— Now that the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is almost over, I received a call from NATO asking if we needed help. Thank you very much, NATO, Trump ironized during a rally in Phoenix. “I told them, 'I could use your help two months ago, but now I really don't want your help anymore because they were absolutely useless when we needed them,'” he added. He noted a moment later that the US “never really needed” help from allies.
— They needed us. They need us. They need us so much… – he said. He compared the situation to donors who called him with an offer to donate to his election campaign after winning the election.
— After our victory, it doesn't matter anymore (…) But you have to remember that because we spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year, we spend money, we spend, I would say, in many cases close to a trillion dollars in a few years, a trillion to help them, and we always help them. And this was just a military expedition. “It's not a big deal, it's not a big deal,” he added.
It is unclear what conversation Donald Trump was talking about. According to information received by PAP, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte did not talk to Trump on Friday. However, an international coalition met regarding a possible future mission in the Strait of Hormuz. The nations, led by France and Britain, announced they would send “an independent and strictly defensive multinational mission to protect merchant ships, reassure merchant shipping operators and conduct mine-clearing operations as soon as conditions allow after a permanent ceasefire agreement.”
Donald Trump on the Iran agreement
During the rally, President Trump repeated his earlier claims that a deal with Iran was imminent (though he added that “you never know with Iran”) and would ensure that the U.S. would receive Iran's enriched uranium, working with Iranian forces to dig up the “nuclear dust” with backhoes and take it home. Iran denies agreeing to this. Trump also assured that despite reports of a possible release of $20 billion. for Iran, “there will be no money exchange.”
In a speech organized by the organization of the person murdered last year. activist Charlie Kirk, Trump persuaded members of the MAGA movement who are skeptical about the war in Iran – many of them young men – not to listen to the voices of those calling for the US to withdraw from the world. He argued that the US must defend “civilization” and said he would not “apologize for US military power” but would seek further American domination, which he claimed was happening “at a level no one thought was possible.”
