U.S. President Donald Trump said most NATO allies have declined to participate in Washington’s military operation against Iran, despite broadly supporting efforts to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Trump has sought support from European nations to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has been disrupted amid Iran’s retaliation following U.S. and Israeli strikes launched on February 28.
He has also urged China, the largest importer of Iranian oil, along with Japan and Australia, to deploy naval assets to restore shipping through the strategic waterway, which carries roughly a quarter of global oil supplies.
Trump Hopes Countries Will Join Effort to Keep Strait of Hormuz Open as Iran Expands Retaliation
The partial closure of the strait and attacks on vessels have pushed up oil prices and risk weighing on the global economic outlook, according to the International Monetary Fund.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the United States had been informed that allied countries “don’t want to get involved,” adding that he was not surprised and describing the alliance as “a one-way street.”
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” he wrote.
The president reiterated claims that U.S. forces have significantly degraded Iran’s military capabilities, including its navy, air force and air defense systems, and said much of its leadership had been eliminated.
Trump added that, given what he described as military success, the United States no longer needs assistance from NATO members or other allies, including South Korea.
“Speaking as president of the United States … we do not need the help of anyone,” he said.
Trump has long argued that NATP members need to reciprocate what the United States has done for the defense over several decades.
“We don’t need them, but they should have been there,” he remarked later at the White House, adding that “NATO’s making a very foolish mistake.”
On the other side of the Atlantic, several European members of the military alliance have individually rejected the idea of joining the Iran war.
Collectively, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas echoed those views on Tuesday.
“This is not Europe’s war. We didn’t start the war. We were not consulted,”
Kallas noted that the European members of the alliance “don’t know” the “objectives of this war,” and that the member states “do not have the wish to be dragged into this.”
Ali Imran is a Washington-based journalist, who has worked for leading world news organizations as a correspondent, expert and in editorial positions. He is a published author and poet.
