One of Donald Trump’s confidants has launched into a scathing tirade against NATO after allies refused to join the president’s war in Iran.
“These motherf--kers always talk about Article Five, Article Five, Article Five, Article Five, Article Five,” the person, described as “a Trump ally close to the White House,” told Politico Wednesday, referring to provisions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that treat an attack on one member as an attack on all.
“OK, well, Iran has been blowing up our soldiers and ripping their wings off for, you know, half a century,” they continued in a fury. “We finally responded, and now they’re f--king going after all our major non-NATO allies and the United States.”
The aide was not done. “You guys are like, not only saying we’re not going to help, you’re closing your airspace to us,” they raged. “Really?”
NATO allies have avoided joining the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran, which Trump started just over a month ago without any prior warning to European partners, many of whom maintain military assets in the region that have since come under attack.
Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the closest U.S. ally in Europe, put it bluntly on Wednesday when he said in a national address: “This is not our war. We will not be drawn into the conflict. It is not in our national interest.”
Spain closed its airspace to U.S. jets on Monday, and Italy has denied U.S. military aircraft permission to land at a base in Sicily. France is refusing to allow planes carrying military supplies to Israel to fly over French territory, while Poland has declined a U.S. request to redeploy its Patriot air defense batteries to the Gulf.
The president—-after raging on Truth Social against France in particular for being “VERY UNHELPFUL” and warning “The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!!”—struck a somewhat deflated tone in comments to Politico Wednesday night.
“I don’t have any thoughts on NATO. I’m disappointed in them,” Trump said. “I have no frustration. I couldn’t care less. I didn’t need them. But if I ever did need them, they wouldn’t be there. And we had a lot of money every year in NATO, so I learned a lot. So did America.”
He has since threatened to quit the alliance.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
