After the threat of withdrawal from NATO, a European leader close to Trump told him on the phone what kind of alliance is taking shape
Finnish President Alexander Stubb told US President Donald Trump in a phone call on Wednesday that a “more European NATO” is emerging and that Europe is “taking responsibility”, Stubb's press office said in a statement cited by Reuters.
Trump told the quoted news agency earlier in the day that he plans to announce in his address to the nation that he is “absolutely” considering withdrawing the US from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“Constructive discussions and exchange of ideas on NATO, Ukraine and Iran. Problems exist to be solved, pragmatically,” the Finnish president wrote in a social media post.
The issue of a more “European” NATO will be on the agenda of the military alliance's annual summit in Ankara on July 7 and 8, said the press office of Alexander Stubb, considered one of the European leaders closest to Trump.
Trump's threat
Also on Wednesday, in an interview with Britain's Daily Telegraph, Donald Trump floated publicly for the first time the idea that he was seriously considering withdrawing the US from NATO because the allies did not support US military action against Iran.
The US president described the alliance as a “paper tiger” and said the US withdrawal from the defense treaty was now “beyond reconsideration”, the British newspaper reported.
“I was never convinced by NATO. I always knew it was a paper tiger, and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin knows that too, by the way,” the White House leader said.
US to leave Iran 'quite quickly'
The United States will “leave Iran pretty quickly” and could return for “point strikes” if needed, the US president told Reuters on Wednesday, just hours before his prime-time address to the nation.
With the war now in its fifth week and under pressure to find a way out amid rising fuel prices, the US president has scheduled a speech Wednesday night at 9:00 p.m. local time (Wednesday night, 04:00 Romanian time) to talk about the way forward. His speech will cap a day that began with a historic visit by Trump to the Supreme Court.
In the telephone interview with Reuters, Trump said one element of his speech would be expressing his “disgust” with NATO for what he sees as the alliance's lack of support for US objectives in Iran. He said he was “absolutely” considering trying to withdraw the United States from NATO, an organization ratified by the US Senate in 1949.
“We didn't have friends when we needed them,” Trump said. “We've never asked too much of them … it's a one-way street,” the White House leader added.
Asked when the United States would consider the war with Iran over, Trump replied: “I can't tell you exactly … we'll be out pretty quickly.”
The US president also stated that US military action ensured that Iran would not have a nuclear weapon. “They're not going to have a nuclear weapon because they're incapable of it now, and then I'm going to go and take them all with me, and if we have to, we're going to come back to do precision strikes,” Trump said.
Iran wants truce, Trump claims. Tehran denies
Earlier Wednesday, Trump tweeted that Iran's president had called for a cease-fire.
“The president of the new regime in Iran, much less radicalized and much more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CeaseFire!”, wrote the leader of the White House, in a message published on the social network Truth Social.
“We will consider this request when the Strait of Hormuz is open, free and secure. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion, or as they say, sending it back to the stone age!!! DJT President,” Trump added in the message.
But Iran denied the claim, according to state television, citing a Foreign Ministry spokesman.
“Trump's statements regarding Iran's request to conclude a truce are false and baseless,” Iranian diplomacy spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to AFP.
