Delivering the keynote address at a Turning Point event in Arizona on Friday, April 17, Trump declared that America must rely on itself.
Trump said, “If NATO teaches us any one thing, and I hope you all saw that because they weren’t for us, if it teaches us any one thing: we have to trust ourselves.”
“We cannot rely on outside countries and outside sources.”
Trump has repeatedly attacked NATO allies for not supporting the US war effort in Iran in the way he believed appropriate.
It was previously reported by The Mirror that the Trump administration was considering plans to punish some NATO members it believes failed to adequately support the US and Israel during the Iran conflict.
The US and Israel launched joint attacks on several key Iranian targets starting on February 28, in response to which Iran launched attacks at several locations across the Middle East, causing chaos in the region, disrupting air travel and sending global markets into turmoil.
A short-term ceasefire is currently in place.
Since launching military action in Iran, the president has branded US partners “cowards” and called NATO a “paper tiger”.
He intensified his hostile rhetoric towards NATO following protests from several alliance countries over his demand to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz trade route, through which 20% of global oil trade passes, to ease rising oil prices around the world.
Trump further said during his address at the Turning Point event on Friday, “Most people, you know this recent situation, they wanted to do it, but they said, ‘Let’s not get involved in this.’ Sometimes you have to get involved.”
“You have no choice but to join in.”
NATO, a 32-member alliance founded in 1949 to counter the threat of Soviet aggression, focuses on the security of member states through the Collective Defense Pledge, under which an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all.
There are growing fears that Trump is preparing to pull out of the alliance completely.
