Trump: US does not need NATO help in Iran operation

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States had informed most of its NATO allies that it did not want them to become involved in the country’s military operation against Iran.

Speaking in the Oval Office at the White House, Trump said that although NATO countries supported the joint US–Israeli war, which has now entered its third week, they did not wish to take part.

‘I think NATO is making a very stupid mistake,’ Trump said. ‘They all agree with us, but they don’t want to help. And we as the United States need to realise that because we think it’s pretty shocking,’ he added.

Trump called on individual alliance members to assist with surveillance of the Strait of Hormuz after Iran responded to US–Israeli attacks by deploying drones, missiles and mines that effectively closed the strait to tankers.

However, several US allies said on Monday that they had no plans to send ships, including minesweepers, to help reopen the waterway, effectively rejecting Trump’s request for military support.

Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday: ‘Because we have achieved such military success, we don’t even need the help of NATO countries any more – we never did.’ In doing so, he mentioned Japan, Australia and South Korea.

The US president has long regarded NATO as ‘a one-way street – we will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, especially in times of need’, he added.

He said he was therefore not surprised that the US ‘allies’, as he described them in the speech, did not want to become involved in the operation against Iran, although they agreed with the US approach and shared the view that Iran must not obtain nuclear weapons.

(reuters, im)