US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has brought home to European governments just how displeased President Donald Trump has been over NATO’s unwillingness to join the war against Iran – but has also sought to reassure allies over US decisions on troop deployments in Europe.
The US is by far the biggest and most capable member of NATO, the Euro-Atlantic alliance that includes 30 European countries, and Canada. It has maintained troops in European countries for decades, as a deterrent force originally meant to face off to the Soviet Union.
Rubio’s intervention at the end of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Sweden came after President Donald Trump said the US would send an extra 5,000 troops to Poland.
That decision was a week after a planned deployment of 4,000 troops to the country was cancelled and days after an announcement that US troops would be pulled out of Germany.
The announcements have caused confusion among the allies of the trans-Atlantic defence organisation. However, at a news conference after the Nato meeting on Friday, Rubio said the US was constantly reevaluating its troop presence in view of its global commitments.
Trump made the announcement about the new Polish deployment as NATO ministers were in Sweden for talks. In a social media post, the President said the decision was based on the US’s relationship with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a long-time supporter whom he had backed in last year’s presidential elections.
The uncertainty has caused some unease in Europe.
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard noted: “It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate.”
Rubio commented that it was “well understood in the alliance that the United States troop presence in Europe is going to be adjusted”.
Acknowledging the unease, he added: “I’m not saying they’re going to be thrilled about it, but they certainly are aware of it.”
Trump has often been critical of Nato, at times threatening to pull the US out of the alliance because of the comparatively low financial contribution of European allies and Canada against the US. He has been further angered by the refusal of NATO countries to help the US in its conflict with Iran.
Rubio said after this week’s meeting that while he had “long been an advocate for NATO”, one of the arguments he had made was that US “bases in the region” had provided the country’s military with “logistical options that we wouldn’t otherwise have”.
“When some of those bases are denied to you during a conflict that we’re involved in, then you question whether that value is still there.”
No other NATO member joined in the 38-day attack on Iran or has so far proved prepared to force open the strait of Hormuz, closed by an Iranian blockade, though some countries did provide a degree of assistance.
Spain refused to allow US bases in the country or its airspace to be used for the attack on Iran, while France only allowed air tankers and other support aircraft to be used from the Istres air base in the south.
The UK permitted the US air force to bomb Iranian missile launchers and any other military assets obstructing the strait from Fairford in Gloucestershire, the furthest any European country was willing to go in enabling US bombing.
Rubio indicated that the tensions within NATO would be discussed at the July summit of alliance leaders in Ankara.
“The president’s views – frankly, disappointment – at some of our NATO allies and their response to our operations in the Middle East, they are well documented,” Rubio said in Helsingborg.
“That will have to be addressed. That won’t be solved or addressed today. That’s something for the leaders level to discuss.”
Sources: BBC, The Guardian
[Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nato/30577230815]