President Donald Trump criticized NATO allies today for their lack of support for the US-Israeli war against Iran, calling the longtime US allies "cowards."
"Without the US, NATO is a PAPER TIGER!" Trump wrote in a social media post.
Trump, according to Reuters, called on key US allies and other countries, which were not consulted or informed about the war, to help secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which is controlled by Iran. The conflict has rocked global markets, claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions since the US-Israeli attacks began on February 28.
The US President complained that NATO countries do not want to join the fight against Iran, yet they complain about high oil prices.
"Now that this fight has been WON militarily, with very little risk to them, they complain about the high oil prices they have to pay, but they don't want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the sole reason for high oil prices. It's so easy for them, with so little risk," he wrote. "COWARDS, and WE WILL REMEMBER!" the US president said.
Germany, Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Canada pledged in a joint statement on Thursday to join "appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz."
However, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made it clear that this implied a cessation of fighting.
French President Emmanuel Macron said after a European Union summit in Brussels that defending international law and encouraging de-escalation was “the best thing we can do,” adding: “I haven’t heard anyone here express a willingness to enter this conflict — quite the opposite.”
The NATO mission in Iraq has safely relocated all of its personnel from the Middle East to Europe, the military alliance announced today.
"I would like to thank the Republic of Iraq and all allies who assisted in the safe transfer of NATO personnel from Iraq," US Air Force General Alexus Grinkevich, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said in a statement.
According to NATO, the mission provides advice to Iraqi security forces and is not involved in combat operations.
"The NATO mission in Iraq will continue to operate from the Joint Forces Command in Naples," the statement added.
The United States is reportedly considering plans to seize or blockade Iran's Kharg Island to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, despite earlier suggestions from Trump that he is not inclined to send "soldiers on the ground."
The claims, published on the Axios website, followed earlier reports that the US was considering seizing the key Iranian oil terminal.
The report was released at a time when the Iranian military threatened to "hunt down" officials and military commanders from the United States and Israel wherever they can find them in the world.
"We are following your cowardly officials and commanders, pilots and evil soldiers," armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi was quoted as saying by state television. "From now on, based on the information we have about you, the promenades, resorts, tourist and entertainment centers in the world will not be safe."
Any attempt to physically seize Harg Island would likely carry great risks, as it would expose U.S. forces there to Iranian drone and missile attacks in a geographically limited area.
Kharg Island, with an area of only 20 square kilometers, is located 25 kilometers from the Iranian city of Bushehr, at the northern end of the Gulf, and about 90 percent of Iranian oil is exported through the terminal there, which reaches it via pipelines from nearby coastal oil fields.
Iran is heavily dependent on fossil fuel revenues, and it is almost certain that any attempt to seize such an important strategic resource would be met with resistance.
The Trump administration and its Israeli allies have been giving conflicting information about their intentions in the war. Descriptions of the plans change almost daily, as reflected in statements from administration officials trying to cope with a war whose consequences have slipped beyond their control, the British "Guardian" assesses.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a message today on the beginning of the Persian New Year, which he called the year of "the economy of resistance with national unity and national security."
Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since succeeding his father, who was killed on the first day of the war, said in a statement on his Telegram channel that he "strongly believes in strengthening relations with neighboring countries" and stressed that the attacks on Turkey and Oman were not carried out by Iran or its allied forces.
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