Trump Threatens NATO Exit After Allies Refuse to Join Illegal Iran War

The Trump administration is threatening to pull the United States out of NATO after European allies refused to join the president's war on Iran -- a military campaign launched without congressional authorization and widely condemned as illegal under international law.

At a White House briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt framed the conflict as a litmus test for the transatlantic alliance. "They were tested, and they failed," she said, quoting Trump directly. "It's quite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks, when it's the American people who have been funding their defence."

The comments came just before Trump met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House. Rutte described the conversation as "frank and open" in a CNN interview afterward, acknowledging Trump's "disappointment" while defending European allies' contributions through logistics and base access.

When CNN's Jake Tapper asked whether Trump planned to withdraw from NATO or reduce US support, Rutte dodged. "There is a disappointment, clearly," he said, before pivoting to praise Trump's leadership.

Retaliation for Refusing an Illegal War

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the administration is considering closing US military bases or relocating troops from countries like Spain and Germany as punishment for their refusal to join the Iran war. Many legal scholars have characterized the February 28 US-Israel attack on Iran as an act of aggression in violation of international law -- a war of choice launched without provocation or imminent threat.

NATO allies declined to contribute combat forces, offering only defensive support. That measured response has apparently enraged Trump, who has spent months pressuring European partners to increase defense spending and fall in line with US military adventurism.

When reporters asked Leavitt directly if Trump was considering leaving NATO, she confirmed it was "something the president has discussed" and suggested he might address it after meeting with Rutte.

A Pattern of Extortion

Trump's threats are not new. During his first term, he repeatedly questioned the value of NATO and suggested the US might not defend allies who failed to meet defense spending targets. After returning to office in 2025, he ramped up the pressure campaign, successfully pushing NATO members to commit -- in nonbinding agreements -- to raise defense budgets to 5 percent of GDP by 2035.

Spain sought an exemption from that target, leading Trump to single out the country for repeated public attacks over the past year.

The president has also threatened military action to seize Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, claiming its ownership is essential for US national security. While those threats have eased, Trump continues to assert that Greenland must come under US control -- a position that has alarmed European leaders and Greenland's residents alike.

NATO Without the US

Rutte, who has visited the White House multiple times during Trump's second term, has warned in the past that NATO "will not work" without US support. That may be true under the alliance's current structure, but Trump's willingness to blow up seven decades of collective security over a war of aggression raises a darker question: What does NATO mean if the US can demand allies join illegal wars as the price of membership?

The administration's framing of the Iran war as a "test" reveals the transactional, authoritarian logic driving Trump's foreign policy. Allies are not partners -- they are vassals expected to rubber-stamp US military action, legal or not. Refusal is treated as betrayal.

European leaders now face a choice: capitulate to Trump's demands and abandon the international legal order, or prepare for a world in which the US treats its oldest allies as enemies. Neither option is good. But one is a hell of a lot worse.