US May ‘Reassess’ Its Relationship With NATO

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US may need to reassess its relationship with NATO after the Iran war is finished, calling the military alliance’s alleged lack of support during the Middle East conflict “very disappointing.”

Rubio assailed NATO members for denying access to military bases, following prior criticism from President Donald Trump that partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are “cowards” and that the alliance is a “paper tiger.”

The US can project power into the Middle East most effectively when it can lean on allied geography — logistics hubs in Germany, air bases in Britain, naval facilities in Spain and the overflight permissions that let aircraft move without friction.

“The president and our country will have to reexamine all of this after this operation is over,” Rubio said in an interview with Al Jazeera. “If NATO is just about us defending Europe if they’re attacked, but them denying us basing rights when we need them, that’s not a very good arrangement. That’s a hard one to stay engaged in.”

“Without the United States, there is no NATO,” said Rubio, who was a longtime supporter of the bloc as a senator. “An alliance has to be mutually beneficial. It cannot be a one-way street. Let’s hope we can fix it.”