DONALD Trump is reportedly mulling “punishing” some Nato members who he has deemed “unhelpful” during the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The US President and his administration would pull US troops out of certain Nato countries and move them to others that have been more “supportive”, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal.
The proposal – which is reportedly in “early conception” – would fall short of Trump’s threats to withdraw from the alliance completely.
By law, he would not be able to remove the US from Nato without Congress approval.
It comes after Trump is reportedly weighing leaving the alliance as he met with Nato boss Mark Rutte on Wednesday.
It’s yet to be revealed what the pair spoke about in the high-stakes meeting at the White House.
Rutte reportedly entered the West Wing through a side gate before doors were tightly shut behind them for the top-secret chat.
The former Dutch premier only revealed he had a “frank and open” discussion with Trump as the US leader expressed disappointment with America’s allies.
“Not all European nations lived up to those commitments and I completely understand he is disappointed about it,” Rutte told CNN during an interview after the meeting.
He added: “I was also able to point to the fact that the large majority of European nations has been helpful with basing, with logistics, with overflights, with making sure that they lift up to the commitments.”
Rutte said he felt the meeting was between “friends”.
“I really admire his leadership and he knows what he did in The Hague, last year at the Nato summit, has been crucial,” he said.
Trump earlier said that with Iran, “Nato was tested and they failed”, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Before the meeting, Leavitt said it was “sad that Nato has turned their backs on the American people, when it’s the American people who’ve been funding their defence”.
She added that Trump and Rutte would have “a frank and candid conversation”.
The US president has repeatedly branded the alliance a “paper tiger” throughout his war in Iran, slamming allies for not coming to his aid in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said last week he was on the verge of leaving Nato after the alliance’s “terrible” show of support in the Middle East.
The US president even branded his allies as “cowards” in late March, ranting: “Without the U.S.A., NATO IS A PAPER TIGER! They didn’t want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran.
“Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices.
“So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!”
Trump had asked for help re-opening the vital shipping lane, urging allies including the UK to send warships to the strait, before later claiming he didn’t need or want any assistance.
Experts warned The Sun last week that pulling the US out of Nato would be among the “worst crises in the alliance’s history” and spark months of panic.
It’s unclear if the Trump administration would challenge the law barring a president from pulling out of Nato.
When the law passed, it was championed by Trump’s current secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who at the time was a senator from Florida.
Rubio met separately with Rutte on Wednesday morning for their own top-secret meeting at the State Department.
In a statement, the State Department said Rubio and Rutte had discussed the war with Iran, along with US efforts to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and increasing coordination and burden shifting with Nato allies.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has been a particular source of Trump’s frustration, was set to travel Wednesday to the Gulf to support the ceasefire.
The UK has been working on developing a post-conflict security plan for the strait, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the worlds oil passes.
Trump’s a longtime critic of Nato
Trump has previously threatened to leave Nato and often said that he would abandon allies who don’t spend enough on their military budgets.
Former Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in his recent memoir, said he feared that Trump might walk away from the alliance in 2018, during his first term as president.
In his first term had suggested he had the authority on his own to leave the alliance, which was founded in 1949 to counter the Cold War threat posed to European security by the Soviet Union.
The crux of the commitment its 32 member countries make is a mutual defence agreement in which an attack on one is considered an attack on them all.
The only time it has been activated was in 2001, to support the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Despite that, Trump has complained during his war of choice with Iran that Nato has shown it will not be there for the US.
