US President Donald Trump raised the issue of stopping funding for NATO and support for allies.
He again sharply criticized his NATO partners for their refusal to support the US-Israeli military operation against Iran. “But I think the huge mistake was that NATO simply did not show a willingness to support it. They simply did not show a willingness to support it. That would have saved the United States a lot of money. Because we spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO. Hundreds... to defend them. And we would always be ready to support them. But now, given their actions, I don't think we have to do it, do we?“, he said at an investment forum in Miami, Florida.
“That sounds like big news. Is it big news? I think we just heard big news. But that's the fact. I'm asking why we should be willing to support them if they're not doing it themselves“, the US president stressed. However, he did not explain what these statements actually mean.
“I think NATO made a terrible mistake by refusing to send a small amount of weapons, just recognizing what we're doing for the world by fighting Iran“, the president said.
“I never saw this operation as very risky. I never thought there was a great risk“, Trump added. However, he acknowledged that wars are unpredictable and often countries that initially seemed destined to win a particular campaign end up losing.