Trump considers leaving NATO, sets a new deadline for war and prepares a prime-time speech

“I was never excited about NATO. “I always knew he was a paper tiger, and Putin knows it too, by the way,” he told the Telegraph.

Trump’s words prompted an immediate reaction from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who stated that NATO remains “the most effective military alliance the world has ever seen,” and stressed that it will continue to defend British interests “despite the noise.”

NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty or Washington Treaty created in 1949 at the beginning of the Cold War. Currently, the alliance is made up of 32 countries. The last to join were Finland (2023) and Sweden (2024), after a historic change in their neutrality policy.

In the current context of the war between the United States and Iran, it is important to note that the conflict develops mainly outside the geographical territory covered by the NATO Treatywith which the Alliance has insisted that this It’s not your war and will not participate, which has angered Trump.

The threat of withdrawal was formulated after a question from the British newspaper about whether he would reconsider his country’s membership in the Atlantic bloc, of which the United States is a founding partner and is the main contributor.

“oh yesI would say that this is already beyond reconsideration. I was never excited about NATO,” and he outlined his complaints about the organization: “We were automatically there, including (the war in) Ukraine. Ukraine was not our problem. It was a test, and we were there, as we would always have been there for them. But they weren’t there for us,” he said.

And after the start of the war against Iran, the NATO members disappointed him: “Not only were they not there, which was actually hard to believe. And it wasn’t that big of a deal either. I just said, ‘Hey,’ well, I didn’t insist much either. I thought it was going to be automatic“he complained.

Trump’s words were preceded by others in the same sense from the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who on Tuesday night told Fox News: “Without a doubt, unfortunately after this conflict “We are going to reexamine our relationship (with NATO)”.

“If NATO is only good for defending Europe when it is attacked, but they deny us rights over the bases when we need them, then it is not a good agreement. It is not a good one to continue in,” he reflected.

And commenting on Rubio’s words, Trump told the Telegraph that He was “glad” to have heard them.

Many NATO countries have distanced themselves from the United States after the outbreak of the war against Iran, of which in addition they were not warned. Some, like Spain, have denied the use of their bases and even their airspace; others, such as the United Kingdom, have allowed the use of some bases after an initial refusal, but conditioned only on defensive actions.

Trump, whose statements on the war have oscillated between a combative and conciliatory tone, surprised on Tuesday with a new twist by ensuring that the war could end in “two, maybe three weeks.”

“But let’s finish the job“he insisted.

The White House announced that the Republican president will give “an important update on Iran” in a speech to the nation at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday (at 10:00 p.m. in Argentina).

President Donald Trump will address the nation on Wednesday with an “important update” on Iranas reported on Tuesday by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. This will be his first prime-time speech since the United States and Israel began the offensive against Iran more than a month ago.

Leavitt did not give details about Trump’s message, but both he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday expressed optimism about the evolution of the United States, after the administration alternated in recent days between claiming that the war is coming to an end and threatening to escalate it.

Trump, who on Monday had promised to “annihilate” the strategic Iranian island of Khark Island and oil wells if an agreement was not reached “quickly” on the reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, assured this time that Not reaching an agreement was “irrelevant.”

“We will leave because there is no reason for us to do this,” he told reporters at the White House, and assured that the responsibility for Hormuz to open will fall on the countries that depend on the crude oil that passes through there, alluding to Europe.

In turn, Iranian President Masud Pezeshkiand said that Iran has the “necessary will” to end the war.

The news caused Asian markets to soar this Wednesday and oil fell below $100 a barrel.

Japan’s Nikkei index rose more than 4%, while South Korea’s Kospi soared more than 6%. European stock markets also opened with strong increases: Paris +2.31%, London +1.11% and Frankfurt +2.87%.

The barrel of Brent, the world reference, fell 5% and was once again below 100 dollars (98.77), while its US equivalent, WTI, fell 4% to 97.28 dollars.