Donald Trump has long raged against NATO and America's closest allies (Image: Getty)
President Donald Trump could be set to make an announcement over US membership of NATO after he said the organisation was "tested and failed" with their lack of support for the American and Israeli war with Iran. The president said earlier this month that he was considering withdrawing the US from NATO as he grumbled about the lack of support from members of the alliance in his war of choice.
The criticism from Trump follows years of complaining that the alliance’s member countries aren’t paying enough for their own defence. Trump is set to host Secretary-General Mark Rutte for talks at the White House later today (Wednesday). Ahead of those talks White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt smiled to the press gallery during a briefing at the White House as she said she had a direct quote to share from the "President of the United States" concerning the treaty organisation.
She said "I will share it with all of you" before revealing her boss's words as "they were tested and they failed".
Ms Leavitt then made a extraordinary personal observation that she thought it was "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."
She added: "As you know, President Trump will be meeting with Secretary Rutte (Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General) in a couple of hours here at the White House and he knows he looks forward to having a very frank and candid conversation with him."
The US president could make an announcement over NATO membership it's been touted (Image: Getty)
Britain has allowed the US to use RAF bases to carry out "defensive" strikes against the Iranian regime but Downing Street has stopped short of joining the conflict outright.
Secretary General Rutte is in Washington to meet with Trump and it's expected the two men will discuss the lack of direct NATO involvement with the US and Israeli war against Iran.
NATO was founded as a defensive treaty organisation, meaning allies within the group come to one another's aid if they are attacked. The body was formed shortly after World War 2 as a means of protecting Europe from feared Soviet aggression on the continent.
The so-called Article 5 of NATO can be triggered by any member state when it is attacked compelling other members to come to their aid. It is not within the bounds of NATO for members to automatically join other nations who choose to launch attacks on other countries, as is the case with the United States's recent war on Iran.
The only time Article 5 has ever been used was by the United States after the September 11 terror attacks in 2001. All the other 31 NATO members answered the call.
Donald Trump has not been kind in his assessment of NATO (Image: Getty)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met separately with Rutte on Wednesday morning at the State Department ahead of the White House talks. In a statement, the State Department said Rubio and Rutte had discussed the war with Iran, along with US efforts to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and “increasing coordination and burden shifting with NATO allies.”
Congress in 2023 passed a law that prevents any US president from pulling out of NATO without its approval. Trump has been a longtime critic of NATO and in his first term had suggested he had the authority on his own to leave the alliance, which was founded in 1949 to counter the Cold War threat posed to European security by the Soviet Union.
What is Article 5
According to NATO, Article 5 states that if a NATO Ally sustains an armed attack, every other member of the Alliance will consider this as an armed attack against all members, and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the attacked Ally.
Article 5 reads: “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
"Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.”
