Trump 'absolutely' considering taking US out of Nato alliance

Europeans' refusal to join Iran war prompts new threat to allies

- Julian Borger

Melania and Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC for the opening night of the musical Chicago on Tuesday

(ALEX WONG/GETTY)

Donald Trump has said he is “absolutely” considering withdrawing the US from Nato, warning that the matter was “beyond reconsideration” after the refusal of allies to join the US-Israeli war against Iran.

The president's threats, his most determined to date, have left the alliance facing its worst crisis in its 77-year history, a former US ambassador has said.

Trump has long been vocally sceptical about the benefit of Nato membership to the US, but since North Atlantic allies have refused to take part in the month-long, faltering US-Israeli assault on Iran, the president has stepped up his rhetoric.

He told Reuters news agency yesterday he was “absolutely without question” considering withdrawing, after telling the Telegraph the matter was “beyond reconsideration”, insisting he had never been “swayed by Nato”. He signalled he would express his disgust for Nato in an address to the nation last night.

The threat came as Keir Starmer signalled he would use a summit with EU countries to solidify economic and security ties, calling for "a partnership for the dangerous world that we must navigate together".

He also said the UK would convene 35 countries - excluding the US - to explore ways to reopen the strait of Hormuz, the vital route for oil and gas that has been blocked by Iran.

It could be politically and constitutionally difficult for Trump to formally withdraw from the 1949 Washington treaty, Nato's founding document, but Ivo Daalder, the US permanent representative at Nato headquarters from 2009 to 2013, said the serious damage to the alliance had already been done.