<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>US President </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/donald-trump" rel="" target="" title="Donald Trump"><span>Donald Trump</span></a><span> said he is strongly considering pulling the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="" title="US"><span>US</span></a><span> out of </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/nato" rel="" target="" title="NATO"><span>NATO</span></a><span>, ratcheting up his criticism of </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/europe" rel="" target="" title="European"><span>European</span></a><span> allies and exposing a wider rift in the transatlantic alliance – this time over </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-it-takes-two-to-taco-usa-iran-war-latest-news/420dd38d-8d0a-45bf-91df-72b06326fe23" rel="" target="" title="America's war alongside Israel against Iran"><span>America's war alongside Israel against Iran</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While Trump's talk of a possible NATO pull-out dates back years, the comments to Britain's </span><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/01/donald-trump-strongly-considering-pulling-us-out-of-nato/" rel="" target="_blank" title="Telegraph"><em><span>Telegraph</span></em></a><span> newspaper, published on Wednesday, were among the clearest and most disparaging yet – suggesting the fracture has deepened perhaps to a point of no return.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Asked whether he would reconsider US membership in the alliance after the war on Iran ends, Trump replied: "Oh yes, I would say (it's) beyond reconsideration".</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MROE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/anthony-albanese-address-to-the-nation-what-to-expect-how-to-watch-everything-to-know/ef0c15f6-2cdd-48a3-b4fb-63ce1b8c05c4"><strong><span>PM warns 'economic shocks' to be 'with us for months' in rare address</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Contacted by The Associated Press, NATO did not provide an immediate comment.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, asked about the comment, said Britain was "fully committed to NATO" and called it "the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Many European leaders have felt political pressure over the war, which faces opposition in their countries and has sent petroleum prices soaring as Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the world's oil passes.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/us-israel-iran-war-transatlantic-rift-widens-as-donald-trump-lashes-out-at-nato-allies-over-unpopular-mideast-war/614d8661-7c2a-4201-aab0-98dc0335e32f" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I am going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions I make," Starmer said on Wednesday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Long-simmering tensions within the alliance have bubbled up again over the war. As energy prices have spiked, Trump has been desperate to get countries to send their ships to the Strait. He's called his NATO allies "cowards," pulling at any rhetorical lever he can to get help with the fallout of a war that no ally was consulted on or asked to take part in.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>For years, Trump has berated America's European allies, urging them to assume greater responsibility for their own security and spend more on defence. He has argued that the US has done more for them than the other way around.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A US pull-out would essentially spell the end of NATO, which flourished for decades under American leadership.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>On Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump lashed out at countries "like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran," and suggested they buy US oil or go to the Strait of Hormuz themselves "and just take it".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He also wants allies to help fix damage from the war that they had no part in starting.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The UK is working on plans that could help assuage Trump.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>On Thursday, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will host a virtual meeting of 35 countries that have signed up to help ensure security for shipping in the Strait after the war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Starmer said military planners will also work on a post-war security plan for the strait.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>The backdrop: NATO not on board to join US in war</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>NATO is built on Article 5 of its founding treaty, which pledges that an attack on any one member will be met with a response from them all.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As the Iran war has spread, missiles and drones have been fired toward NATO member Turkey and a British military base on Cyprus, fuelling speculation about what might prompt NATO to trigger its collective security guarantee and come to their rescue.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The alliance has not intervened or signalled any plan to. Secretary-General Mark Rutte – who has voiced support for Trump and America's role in the alliance – has been focusing mostly on </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/russia-ukraine" rel="" target="" title="Russia's war against Ukraine"><span>Russia's war against Ukraine</span></a><span>, which borders four NATO countries.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>NATO operates uniquely by consensus. All 32 countries must agree for it to take decisions, so political priorities play a role. Even invoking Article 5 requires agreement among the allies. Turkey or the UK cannot trigger it alone.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the Mideast war, Trump has bristled at the across-the-board rejection from European and other allies, and even rival China, to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Many European Union and NATO member country leaders have fumed since the war's outset on February 28 because they weren't informed ahead of time, seen as a break with precedent.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump insisted he needed the element of surprise, and he spoke out about possible military action and visibly built up US forces in the region in the run-up to the war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Rising voices, and tougher action, from Europe over the Mideast war</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>European leaders have called for the war to stop and want the United States and Iran to return to negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program, which America and Israel see as a threat.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The vocal opposition in Europe to Trump's war against Iran has started to turn into action.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Spain — the most vocal critic in Europe — on Monday said it closed its airspace to US planes involved in the Iran war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Early last month, France agreed to let the US Air Force use a base in southern France after receiving a "full guarantee" from the United States that planes not involved in carrying out strikes against Iran would land there.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Other countries have spoken out against it: Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's largely ceremonial president, last week called the aggression against Iran a "dangerous mistake" in violation of international law.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>US relations with Europe had already soured in recent months over Trump's call for Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of stalwart NATO ally Denmark — to become part of the United States, prompting many EU countries to rally behind Copenhagen.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><strong><span>NEVER MISS A STORY:</span></strong></em><span> </span><em><span>Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><em><strong><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>Apple</span></strong></em></a><span> </span><em><strong><span>and</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>Google Play</span></strong></em></a></li><li><em><strong><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/8x987w" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>ticking this box here</span></strong></em></a></li><li><em><strong><span>Sign up to</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://login.nine.com.au/edm?client_id=nineatnine" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>our breaking newsletter here</span></strong></em></a></li></ul></div></div>