THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - JUNE 25: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to media at the start of the second day of the 2025 NATO Summit on June 25, 2025 in The Hague, Netherlands. Among other matters, members are to approve a new defense investment plan that raises the target for defense spending to 5% of GDP. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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As the war in Iran enters its third month, U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to convince NATO members to join the U.S. and Israel in the fight against Iran. For several weeks, Trump has spoken with American allies and partners about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Numerous heads of state of NATO member countries, however, have informed the U.S. president that they do not intend to participate in the war. Additionally, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom have either closed their airspace to aircraft or denied the use of their military bases during the war in Iran.

Having failed to persuade U.S. allies and partners to join the fight, Trump has now criticized the Alliance, stating NATO has done “absolutely nothing” to help win the war against Iran. He has also argued on his Truth Social account that the U.S. has had success in the Middle East against Iran, thus no longer requiring NATO assistance. Given NATO’s unwillingness to participate in the war against Iran, Trump has started to question the Alliance’s commitment to the United States, and he has pondered the value of the organization. This led the U.S. president to announce on April 1 that he was strongly considering withdrawing the United States from NATO. In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Trump called NATO a “paper tiger” and said he was “never swayed by NATO.”

Trump is not the only U.S. senior official to criticize the Alliance this week. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have also questioned the notion of collective defense and security between the U.S. and other NATO members. On March 30, Rubio told Al Jazeera that if “NATO is just about us defending Europe if they’re attacked, but then denying us basing rights when we need them, that’s not a very good arrangement” for the United States. Rubio added that it is “hard to stay engaged in” NATO. Then, on March 31, Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon that “a lot has been shown to the world about what our allies would be willing to do for the United States of America.” Hegseth added that when the U.S. has asked for assistance during the current war with Iran, the U.S. has received “questions or roadblocks or hesitation” from other members of the Alliance.

The comments made by Trump and senior officials in the Trump Administration this week led several European leaders to respond to the American statements. For example, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that a NATO break-up would favor Russia. Meanwhile, in response to Trump’s comments, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer noted that the current conflict in the Middle East was not the UK’s war, adding that his country was “not going to get dragged into it.” Elsewhere in Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that Trump’s comments on NATO did “not merit a response.” Finally, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced that he would visit the United States next week to discuss the U.S.-NATO relationship with Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump’s comments received backlash in the United States. Democrat Senators Chris Coons and Jeanne Shaheen spoke out against Trump’s criticism of NATO, stating that the Alliance aided the U.S. during the September 11 attacks. Similarly, Republican Senators Mitch McConnell and Thom Tillis spoke out against the president’s threat to leave the organization. Senate Majority Leader John Thune added that there was “little appetite” in the Senate to pull the U.S. out of NATO. Several Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives also defended NATO as well as America’s role in the Alliance.

It is not the first time Trump has threatened to withdraw from NATO. During the first Trump Administration, The New York Times reported that several senior government officials claimed that Trump had stated that he “wanted to withdraw” from NATO in 2018. But U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and National Security Advisor John Bolton, who both served in the first Trump Administration at the time, made inroads to prevent the president from withdrawing the U.S. from the Alliance. Shortly after these events, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a law in December 2023 that would prevent any U.S. president from withdrawing from NATO “without approval from the Senate or an Act of Congress.” Rubio, then a Republican Senator from Florida, was one of the bill’s co-sponsors.

In other words, it is unlikely that Trump will be able to withdraw from NATO given the current legal constraints imposed by Congress. Nonetheless, the war against Iran has led to greater tensions between the United States and its NATO allies. Policymakers, national security professionals, and observers of the conflict in the Middle East will be curious to see how America’s foreign policy and national security strategy will develop in the coming weeks and how future American policy decisions will be influenced by its relationship with its European allies. They will also be anxious to see if Trump will challenge Congress on the U.S. commitment and involvement in NATO, and how U.S. elected officials in the Senate and House respond. What unfolds from these discussions will determine the future of the Alliance as well as transatlantic relations for the United States.