Trump Is Forcing NATO to Confront Its Big Assumption: Explainer

President Donald Trump has once again lashed out at America’s NATO partners, this time over their unwillingness to help him prosecute the war in Iran, and suggested the US may even quit the military alliance.

His latest broadside against European allies came after some of them denied American military aircraft permission to use their bases for attacks on Iran. They’ve also declined to offer help enforcing freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz until the conflict with Iran has subsided.

President Donald Trump during a news conference at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands in 2025.

Photographer: Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg

It’s unlikely that Trump could unilaterally terminate US membership of NATO. But the very basis of NATO deterrence ...