Trump warns he is strongly considering pulling the US out of Nato in renewed attack on ‘paper tiger’ alliance

Donald Trump has warned he is strongly considering pulling the US out of NATO in his latest attack on the ‘paper tiger’ bloc. 

In an interview with the Telegraph, he said removing America from the 77-year-old alliance is now ‘beyond reconsideration.’

He said: ‘I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.’

Since the start of the war with Iran, the US has unsuccessfully tried to lobby his NATO allies into joining the fight. 

The defence bloc has been reluctant to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that ordinarily sees 20% of the world’s oil pass through every day. 

Following the establishment of a blockade, Iran has all but closed the Strait for weeks, sending oil and gas prices soaring. 

NATO’s demurement on the Middle East appears to have irked Trump, who said: ‘Beyond not being there, it was actually hard to believe. I just think it should be automatic.

‘We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. [NATO] weren’t there for us.’

He also accused the UK being weak and accused the Royal Navy of not being in a good enough shape to fight: ‘You don’t even have a navy. You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work.’

Shortly after Trump’s fiery comments, Sir Keir Starmer said NATO is ‘the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen.’

He also said he would only act in the interests of Britain, adding of the Middle East conflict: ‘This is not our war, and we’re not going to get dragged into it.’

He said the UK will host an international diplomatic conference this week on ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Starmer says 35 countries have signed a statement committing to work together on restoring maritime security to the key oil transport route.

He said Wednesday that Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will lead a conference on the issue, and military planners are also working on plans for security once the Iran war ends.

Starmer said ‘a united front of military strength and diplomatic activity’ is needed to restore stability.  

Multiple drones attacked a northern Iraq fuel warehouse linked to British oil and natural gas giant BP, a firm operating the facility said. No casualties were reported.

The attack on the motor oil warehouse occurred in Irbil, the capital city of Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region, the Sardar Group, a major automotive group in Iraq, said in a statement. It said the facility is owned by Castrol, a subsidiary of BP.

The statement said the first drone hit the facility at 7.20a, before it was attacked again with two more drones while firefighters were combating the fire.

The attack started a massive fire that sent a column of black smoke into the air, social media footage shows.

Earlier, Trump said the US could end its Iran offensive in two to three weeks and will shift responsibility for the Strait of Hormuz to countries that rely on it for oil and shipping as the White House announced a prime-time presidential address Wednesday evening on the war.

Trump expressed frustration Tuesday with allies who have been unwilling to do more to support the US’ war effort, telling them to ‘go get your own oil.’ 

He recently has flip-flopped between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to widen the war.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from US envoy Steve Witkoff. 

He insisted, however, that there were no direct negotiations and said Iran has no faith that talks with the US could yield any results, saying ‘the trust level is at zero.’

‘You cannot speak to the people of Iran in the language of threats and deadlines,’ Araghchi said.

Asked if the United States would launch a ground war in Iran, Araghchi dismissed the idea.

‘I do not think they would dare to do such a thing,’ he said. ‘Very heavy casualties would await them.’

And asked about attacks across the Gulf Arab states, Araghchi again insisted Iran isn’t targeting those states, despite repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure like airports, power plants and desalination facilities.

‘In reality, they are using the people of the Persian Gulf as human shields,’ Araghchi said.

Trump said the US ‘will not have anything to do with’ what happens next in the vital waterway that has been closed by the Islamic Republic. 

Instead, he told reporters, the responsibility for keeping the strait open will rest with countries that rely on it. Gulf states rely on the waterway for both exports and imports, including food, and 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows through it. 

Iran’s supreme leader vowed on Wednesday his nation will continue to support anti-Israeli forces in the Mideast.

The message from Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, like others since he was named Iran’s new supreme leader, came in a statement read on air by a state television anchor.

‘I firmly declare that the consistent policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in continuing the path of the late Imam and martyred leader, is based on continuing to support the resistance against the Zionist-American enemy,’ Khamenei said in the comments from a letter to the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Khamenei has not been seen since the war began February 28. US and Israeli officials believe he was wounded and remains in hiding.

An Indian citizen was wounded during a drone attack on Wednesday in the United Arab Emirates, according to the official WAM news agency in Umm Al Quwain, one of the UAE’ seven emirates.

Shrapnel fell near an industrial area of Umm Al Thoub while air defense systems were intercepting a drone, the agency reported.

A drone attack by Iran and its allies hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire, authorities said.

The state-run KUNA news agency said the attack early Wednesday sparked a ‘large fire’ at the airport.

It said there were no immediate injuries from the attack and firefighters were working to control the blaze.

Kuwait International Airport has been attacked before by Iran during the war. The KUNA report suggested the attack may have been launched by Iranian-supported militias in Iraq with Tehran’s support.

In another strike, Bahrain said early on Wednesday morning that it was working to extinguish a fire at a business facility that resulted from an Iranian attack.

Israel strikes factory in Iran it alleges supplies fentanyl for chemical weapons

Israel said early Wednesday it struck a plant supplying Iran’s theocracy with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly use in a chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied ‘hospital drugs’ used in medical operations.

The strike happened Tuesday, both the Israelis and the Iranians said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted a picture of the factory in Tehran, writing on X: ‘The war criminals in Israel are now openly and unashamedly bombing pharmaceutical companies.’

Hospitals extensively use fentanyl to treat severe pain. But a small amount of the drug can be fatal.

Both Israel and the United States have warned in recent years Iran was experimenting with fentanyl in munitions. The U.S. previously pointed to Iranian academic research studying how Russia likely used a fentanyl derivative during the 2002 Moscow theater hostage seizure by Chechen militants.

Israel alleged Tofigh Daru supplied fentanyl to an advanced research institute in Tehran, known by its acronym SPND. The US alleges SPND has conducted research and testing that could be applicable to the development of nuclear explosive devices and other weapons.