ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
Vice President JD Vance, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, are all headed to Islamabad for another round of talks with Iran. Besides ending the war, the Strait of Hormuz will be on the table. Iran said it was closing it again until the U.S. lifts its own blockade. Watching closely is the EU, as American allies try to manage the tough spot they find themselves in. Teri Schultz reports.
TERI SCHULTZ: Stay away - that's the message European leaders got from President Trump in a Truth Social post Friday as they gathered more than 50 countries to support reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a crisis caused by a war they didn't want. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is spearheading those efforts, along with French President Emmanuel Macron.
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PRIME MINISTER KEIR STARMER: Reopening the strait is a global necessity and a global responsibility. We need to act to get global energy and trade flowing freely again to bring down prices for working people. Our citizens need to see a return to peace and stability, and we will play our full part.
SCHULTZ: This new coalition of the willing will only act defensively, Macron emphasized, escorting merchant vessels through the strait once a sustainable ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is ensured.
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PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON: (Through interpreter) We will work closely with ship owners, insurers and other maritime professionals to provide them with the clarity needed to resume traffic as soon as possible.
SCHULTZ: Standing alongside Starmer and Macron were German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, together representing Europe's four largest economies and pillars in the NATO alliance. But their announcement seemed to just further infuriate Trump. Speaking at a church in Arizona Friday, the president doubled down on his derision of the alliance, drawing loud applause from the crowd.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And now that the Hormuz Strait situation is almost over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would like some help.
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TRUMP: Thank you very much, NATO. And I told them I would have liked your help two months ago, but now I really don't want your help anymore.
SCHULTZ: Insults like this, plus the European sense that Trump degraded global security with a war of choice on Iran, have driven the alliance into what many analysts say is its worst crisis in its 77 years. That's not due to a lack of capabilities, but a lack of confidence on each side that the other would come to its aid in case of attack, the fundamental basis of the 32-member alliance, Article 5 of its founding treaty. Christian Molling, director of the think tank European Defense in a New Age, is among those urging Europe to accelerate preparations for going it alone, whether or not Trump makes good on his threats to pull out of NATO.
CHRISTIAN MOLLING: The threat is a U.S. president that changes his mind every six hours. Currently, you have to guess whether the U.S. administration is a cooperative actor, a chaotic actor or even a hostile actor to European security. Will the U.S. president pick up the phone if he gets a call from Europe and they have to jump? The fact that they even may not pick up the phone is enough to look for alternatives.
SCHULTZ: While Trump uses the principle of Article 5 to criticize the other NATO governments for not helping attack Iran, it's meant to collectively defend a NATO member against an attack on its own territory, like happened on 9/11, the only time Article 5 has been invoked. The fear of another military attack directly on a NATO member has never again been so present until Trump threatened a military takeover of Greenland, an autonomous region of NATO ally Denmark. This previously inconceivable situation has turned even the most pro-American European countries sour on the transatlantic relationship. Former NATO official Robert Pszczel sees it in opinion polls in his native Poland, a staunch U.S. ally.
ROBERT PSZCZEL: The level of trust towards United States is probably the lowest since, I don't know, first world war, I guess (laughter). This is unbelievable. I would even call it suicidal from the point of view of the interests of U.S., its relationship. It's not true that U.S. gets nothing out of NATO, for example, in Europe, even in this - you know, during the war against Iran. I mean, without the bases, without the access, without other forms of support, it would be extremely difficult. And the list is very long.
SCHULTZ: For NPR News, I'm Teri Schultz. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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