Trump's anger over Iran thrusts NATO into fresh crisis - reuters.com

<a href="https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMitwFBVV95cUxNS2liSDZHMVVtSHozdTMyejFlbDNQMVBSVU5JR09Vb3FxUV9QVDRaUDdxdGxhcGxPaEU4WE0tN2l2XzZILXVSck9lcF9UTDFWMGstcXhidklfOC04bUVCM1dtUDhKQjlfMnNtcFNRYjFVek9ONHhfOERBa0JyZnpsWFd3REtWSGxnYTcwdnhRbFFmTHNGSHRqZkZERU84S2tSTThDUG9tUHdiQ3pZb0lUVV9EY3BETU0?oc=5" target="_blank">Trump's anger over Iran thrusts NATO into fresh crisis</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<font color="#6f6f6f">reuters.com</font>

The article discusses the severe strain placed on NATO due to actions by President Trump, particularly in the context of his war against Iran. NATO's unity is now in question as Trump conditions U.S. support on reciprocal military cooperation.

President Trump’s fury over NATO allies’ refusal to help secure the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.–Israeli war with Iran has thrust NATO into its gravest crisis since its founding, with trust fraying and the U.S. considering withdrawal.

In April 2026, tensions between the U.S. and its NATO allies escalated as President Donald Trump again threatened to withdraw the United States from the alliance. This renewed threat comes amidst Trump's frustration over Europe’s reluctance to support U.S. efforts in the Iran conflict, particularly regarding the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

In a televised address on April 1, 2026, President Donald Trump declared that the U.S. is prepared to strike Iran 'extremely hard' within weeks, aiming to send the country 'back to the Stone Ages,' while offering no clear resolution to an escalating war involving Israel.

The NATO alliance has in recent years survived existential challenges, but it is the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that has nearly broken the 76-year-old bloc and threatens to leave it in its weakest state since its creation, say analysts and diplomats.

President Donald Trump has said he is strongly considering pulling the U.S. out of NATO, ratcheting up his criticism of European allies and exposing a wider rift in the transatlantic alliance over America's war alongside Israel against Iran.

The NATO alliance has in recent years survived existential challenges—ranging from the war in Ukraine to multiple bouts of pressure and insults from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has questioned its core mission and threatened to seize Greenland. But it is the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, thousands of miles from Europe, that has nearly broken the 76-year-old bloc and threatens to leave it in its weakest state since its creation, say analysts and diplomats. Trump, enraged that European countries have declined to send their navies to open up the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping following the start of the air war on Feb 28, has declared he is considering withdrawing from the alliance. "Wouldn't you if you were me?" Trump asked Reuters in a Wednesday interview. In a speech on Wednesday night, Trump criticised U.S. allies but stopped short of condemning NATO, as many experts thought he might. But combined with other barbs aimed at Europeans in recent weeks, Trump’s comments have provoked unprecedented concern that the U.S. will not come to the aid of European allies should they be attacked, whether or not Washington formally walks away. The result, say analysts and diplomats, is that the alliance created in the Cold War that has long served as the basic fabric of European security is fraying and the mutual defence agreement at its core is no longer taken as a given. "This is the worst place (NATO) has been since it was founded," said Max Bergmann, a former State Department official who now leads the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "It’s really hard to think of anything that even comes close." That reality is sinking in for Europeans, who have counted on NATO as a bulwark against an increasingly assertive Russia. As recently as February, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had dismissed the idea of Europe defending itself without the U.S. as a "silly thought." Now, many officials and diplomats consider it the default expectation. "NATO remains necessary, but we must be capable of thinking of NATO without the Americans," said General Francois Lecointre, who served as France’s armed forces chief from 2017 to 2021. "Whether it should even continue to be called NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, is a valid question." White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: President Trump has made his disappointment with NATO and other allies clear, and as the President emphasised, "the US will remember". A NATO representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.