Trump confirms hes ‘absolutely’ considering NATO | Political News

President Trump said on Wednesday that he’s “absolutely” considering a dramatic exit from NATO as he prepares to give a primetime tackle from the Oval Office.

The president said on Wednesday that he would tackle the nation to present updates on the Iran conflict, as nicely as specific his disgust over the intergovernmental group.

“Oh, absolutely without question. Wouldn’t you do that if you were me?” Trump said during a telephone interview that he was considering leaving the alliance.

“They haven’t been friends when we needed them,” Trump added. “We’ve never asked them for much… it’s a one-way street.”

He added that the future of NATO is “beyond consideration” after European leaders banned the U.S. from utilizing navy bases for the conflict in Iran.

“I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin knows that too, by the way,” he said.

Withdrawing from NATO can be a dramatic blow to U.S. diplomatic relations, as it may sever ties with nations just like the U.Ok., France, Spain, Poland, and Turkey.

It stays unclear how Trump would transfer ahead with a NATO exit. In 2023, then-President Joe Biden signed laws, co-authored by then-Sen. Marco Rubio—now the Secretary of State—is stopping a president from withdrawing from the alliance without congressional approval.

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However, if such challenges come up, the Trump administration may argue that the laws hinders his energy to lead the navy and conduct diplomacy as commander-in-chief.

Interestingly, during his interview with GWN, the president averted offering a timeline for the end of the conflict. The White House and the Pentagon had beforehand said they anticipated the battle to last 4 to six weeks.

“I can’t tell you exactly… we’re going to be out pretty quickly,” he said, including that once the U.S. exits the Middle East, “we’ll come back to do spot hits [on Iranian targets].”

Trump’s latest feedback on the conflict’s timeline are notably different from remarks White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made on Monday, when she said the president and the Pentagon stand by their unique timeline.

“The president, commander in chief, the Pentagon, has always stated four to six weeks estimated timeline for Operation Epic Fury,” Leavitt said during a press briefing at the White House. “We’re on day 30 today, so you do the math on how much longer the Pentagon needs to full achieve the objectives of Operation Epic Fury.”

She then listed the administration’s aims on the conflict: “destroy the Iranian navy, destroy their ballistic missiles, dismantle their missile and drone production and infrastructure, significantly weaken their proxies throughout the course of this operation, and then of course, preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

Americans are growing keen for the conflict in Iran to be over after U.S. gasoline costs jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022. Gas costs across the nation have been risky in latest weeks after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, leaving a whole bunch of vessels trapped from exporting oil and forcing Gulf oil producers to halt output. The last time U.S. drivers paid that a lot to refuel their tanks was during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 4 years in the past.