Growing European defiance to US demands raises a critical question: is Nato a club of equals or a mechanism for enforcing one nation’s agenda?
3-MIN READ3-MINJianxi LiuPublished: 8:30pm, 6 Apr 2026“We’ve had some very bad allies in Nato,” US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, warning Washington could walk away from the transatlantic alliance unless allies fall in line with his Iran policy. Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte plans to visit the United States soon to stabilise the alliance.
These decisions challenge the idea that Nato solidarity automatically extends to every American military campaign and signalled that Europe’s patience has run out.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has labelled the Iran war unjustifiable under international law and a reckless escalation: “You cannot respond to one illegality with another, because that’s how humanity’s great disasters begin.”
