U.S. President Donald Trump has called on NATO members to muster the courage to send naval vessels to the Strait of Hormuz, once again criticizing the military alliance. When asked why he hadn’t mentioned NATO in his Wednesday evening address to the nation, Trump said it wasn’t a speech about NATO, but that he had mentioned the strait and those who were absent.
“They need to get some courage and go in there and just send your ships in there and enjoy it,” Trump told Politico. Asked if he was disappointed with the alliance, Trump said, “I don’t care at all. I didn’t need them. But if I ever needed them, they wouldn’t be there.”
NATO has invoked Article 5, its collective defense clause, only once in its history, following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S. NATO allies have criticized Trump for initiating conflict with Iran without consulting them.
The remarks are the latest in a series of direct criticisms Trump has leveled at NATO regarding its response to the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. He previously called alliance members “cowards” and in an interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph described NATO as a “paper tiger,” saying that leaving the alliance was “beyond reconsideration.”
Unilaterally withdrawing from NATO, a move Trump has hinted at since his first term, would face significant legal hurdles. A 2023 law prohibits any U.S. president from withdrawing from the alliance without the support of a two-thirds majority in the U.S. Senate.
The strait, through which around 20 million barrels of oil pass daily under normal conditions, has been effectively shut down since early March following Iranian measures taken in response to the U.S.-Israel offensive against Iran that began on February 28.
Trump has repeatedly urged European allies and Gulf states to take a more active role in securing the strait, arguing that countries dependent on its oil should bear responsibility for reopening it.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump will meet with NATO chief Mark Rutte in Washington next week.