US President Donald Trump said he was strongly considering pulling out of NATO, calling the military alliance a “paper tiger” for its refusal to back his Iran war.

His remarks to The Telegraph — “I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration,” he said, when asked about Washington’s membership — entrench a transatlantic rift that has deepened over his second term as a result of his tariffs against the EU, threats of annexation of European territory, and most recently his demand that NATO back his and Israel’s bombing of Iran.

France and Spain have reportedly denied permission for US warplanes to use their airspace, Italy has blocked access to a base, and Britain has permitted use of its facilities only for defensive purposes.

Trump cannot unilaterally withdraw the US from NATO: Congress in 2023 enacted a law that prohibits the president from doing so without the consent of the Senate. But his persistent criticism of the alliance has raised the prospect of Washington not coming to other NATO members’ aid were they to invoke Article 5, the group’s foundational collective-defense clause, thereby eroding one of its central purposes.