This article was originally published in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Read the original article.
US President Donald Trump again cast doubt on American support for NATO for its lack of help in the Iran war, suggesting Washington might not aid member nations in need, while he also said talks to end the war were progressing, even as US casualties mounted.
"NATO made a terrible mistake when they wouldn't send a small amount of military armament, when they wouldn't just even acknowledge what we were doing for the world and taking on Iran,” Trump told a Saudi-sponsored economic foreign in Miami on March 27.
“They just weren't there.”
"Why would we be there for them if they're not there for us? They weren't there for us."
"That sounds like a breaking story? Yes, sir. Is that breaking news? I think we just have breaking news, but that's the fact. I've been saying that. Why would we be there for them if they're not there for us? They weren't there for us."
“We spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO, hundreds, protecting them, and we would have always been there for them, but now, based on their actions, I guess we don't have to be, do we?"
NATO listed its military budget in 2025 at about $5.3 billion and said the United States contributes about 15.9 percent of it, or $842 million. However, the Defense Department overall budget was listed at more than $882 billion for the current fiscal year.
The United States has been the dominant power in NATO since its inception following World War II.
Trump's latest anti-NATO comments are likely to raise concerns among US allies in the alliance and also among Democratic leaders in the United States. They may also worry some members of Trump's Republican Party, including members of Congress.
Trump has reacted angrily to NATO members' refusal to become involved in the US-Israeli war with Iran and their reluctance to help provide security to shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz until after a cease-fire is in place.
Trump, who has long questioned the viability of NATO, has often cast doubt on his willingness to support the alliance, saying he would not come to members aid if they didn’t pay enough for their own defense.
On March 27, Trump insisted Iran is "on the run" and that talks with Tehran were ongoing.
"We're negotiating now, and it would be great if we could do something, but they have to open it up," Trump told the investment forum, referring to the Strait of Hormuz.
US Special envoy Steve Witkoff said the Trump administration is "hopeful" that "there will be meetings this week" between Washington and Tehran.
"We have a 15-point deal on the table that the Iranians have had for a bit of time. We expect an answer from them, and it would solve it all," he said at the Miami investment forum.
Senior Iranian officials have denied Tehran is in negotiations with Washington, but Iran on March 25 said it was reviewing a 15-point US proposal and put forward what it said were five conditions that needed to be met in order for the conflict to end.
The US plan reportedly repeated Washington's demands for Iran to dismantle its nuclear facilities, limit its missile capabilities, and end its support for regional proxy forces.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking on the sidelines of a Group of Seven (G7) meeting in France, on March 27 said the United States had not yet received a response from Iran, and suggested contacts had been indirect.
Despite the uncertainty over the negotiations, Rubio said the United States expects to wrap up its military operation in Iran within "weeks, not months" and believes it is possible to achieve its goals without ground forces, amid reports that the Pentagon is deploying several thousand fresh troops to the region.
On the ground in the Middle East, multiple news outlets reported that 10-12 US troops were wounded, two seriously, in an Iranian strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
The latest casualties are on top of the more than 300 US service members who have been wounded since the war with Iran began, mainly on US bases located on the territory of Gulf Arab allies.
The US military earlier on March 27 said 273 of the injured had already returned to duty. Thirteen US troops have been killed.
Elsewhere, authorities in Bahrain said they extinguished a fire at a facility targeted by Iran, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a regular target of Iranian missiles and drones, said its defense teams were engaging a series of missiles and drones from Iran early on March 28.
In the UAE emirate of Abu Dhabi, authorities said fires broke out early on March 28 at an industrial zone following a missile and drone attack from Iran, injuring five people.
'Business As Usual' As Attacks Go On Amid Uncertainty Over Iran Peace Plans
A key UAE leader expressed anger with Tehran following weeks of attacks.
"A simple cease-fire isn't enough," wrote Yousef Al Otaiba in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.
"We need a conclusive outcome that addresses Iran's full range of threats: nuclear capabilities, missiles, drones, terror proxies and blockades of international sea lanes."
Otaiba said the UAE was ready to join a "coordinated" international effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes in peacetime.
In what has become an almost nightly event, Israel early on March 28 said it was "striking Iranian terror regime targets across Tehran," without being specific. It earlier said it had targeted a uranium processing facility and a heavy water reactor in central Iran.
At home, Israeli authorities said a man was killed and several other people were lightly injured when Iranian missiles struck six sites in and around Tel Aviv late on March 27.
In a potentially troubling development, Israeli authorities reported the first missile launch from Yemen after the Iran-allied Houthi rebels threatened to enter the war.
A US-designated terrorist organization that has previously attacked international ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea, the Houthis -- one of Tehran's most potent allies -- have so far stayed out of the war. If they do enter the conflict, there will be major concerns across global energy markets, experts say.
Copyright (c)2025 RFE/RL, Inc. Used with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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