NATO and Iran War

President Donald Trump reiterated his complaint that "NATO WASN'T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM" and confirmed he has discussed the U.S. potentially leaving the alliance after a closed-door White House meeting Wednesday with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. The talks were expected to ease Trump's anger over NATO's limited role in the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, but his all-caps social-media posts after the meeting signaled he remains aggrieved and again questioned the alliance's reliability. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged earlier in the day that Trump had discussed leaving NATO, even though a 2023 U.S. law requires congressional approval for any withdrawal — legislation that was championed by current Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he was a senator. Trump also revived his grievance over Greenland, mocking it as a "big, poorly run, piece of ice" after earlier unsuccessful efforts to press for U.S. control of the territory, undercutting standard diplomatic messaging. The episode is feeding online debate in the U.S. and Europe over whether Trump is using public threats as leverage on burden-sharing or genuinely willing to test the legal limits on a unilateral break with NATO in the middle of a major Middle East conflict.