How the Iran War Divided NATO

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Donald Trump’s lashing out at NATO allies over the Iran War is as dangerous as it is unjustified.

In the midst of US involvement in a war against Iran, President Donald Trump has decided to double down on previous public expressions of disregard and distrust toward NATO. Trump has threatened to withdraw the United States from NATO several times since his reelection to the White House. His repeated jibes at the alliance have raised concerns among European defense experts and government officials. 

Former US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder recently noted that “It’s hard to see how any European country will now be able and willing to trust the United States to come to its defense.” French President Emmanuel Macron indicated on April 2 that, in his view, Trump was undermining NATO with his repeated threats to withdraw from the alliance. Raising new fears of American abandonment on the part of European leaders, Trump, in various interviews and social media posts within a few days, said that the United States “will REMEMBER” France’s refusal to assist in the Iran War, that NATO was a “paper tiger,” and that “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin knows that, too, by the way.” 

The most recent presidential broadside against NATO reflected Trump’s frustration with European allies who chose not to involve themselves in the war against Iran and refused to provide political support for the military actions. But this hesitancy among European allies should not have surprised the US leadership. Neither NATO as an alliance nor individual European governments were consulted prior to the decision to go to war, nor were most even informed until the operation was already in progress. 

Further to the issue of NATO support, Trump’s address to the nation on April 1 simply assumed that the United States would wind up its........

© The National Interest