NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, on March 26, 2026. VIRGINIA MAYO/AP
At the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters on Wednesday, April 1, the communication lines between the United States administration and its European allies heated up once again. With the United States and Israel's war against Iran, launched on February 28, having reached a stalemate, President Donald Trump sharply criticized the other NATO member states, telling several media outlets that he was now "absolutely" considering pulling out of the organization.
While the threat is not new, it has come during a period in which Trump and his entourage's discourse on NATO has been especially vehement. On Wednesday, Trump also called his European allies "cowards" for their reluctance to help him unblock the Strait of Hormuz, which is under an Iranian blockade. In his speech on the war that same day, however, Trump made no reference to the subject, limiting himself to reiterating his vision of Operation Epic Fury's necessity and touting its progress.
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Trump vows to send Iran 'back to the stone ages,' but offers no end to the war
