Mounting European frustration with President Donald Trump, and defiance of his wishes on the war with Iran, bubbled over Thursday, when President Emmanuel Macron lashed out at the American leader for his shifting war goals and his undermining of the NATO alliance.
“When we’re serious, we don’t say the opposite of what we said the day before every day, and maybe one shouldn’t speak every day,” Macron told reporters during a trip to South Korea. He also said of Trump’s mounting attacks on NATO, “If you create doubt every day about your commitment, you hollow it out.”
The French president has been among the most vocal of frustrated allies, but he is hardly the only one. Trump has steadily berated European leaders for refusing to join in a war that they view skeptically, at best, that he entered without consulting them, and that has had wide-ranging consequences the United States appeared unprepared for.
European leaders who have struggled to stay on Trump’s good side, and even gone out of their way to praise him, are increasingly resigned to the idea of a United States that is no longer a reliable partner and protector.
Responding to Trump’s latest and perhaps most pointed threat to withdraw from NATO, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said Wednesday that “our long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe.” Some European countries have gone public with their refusal to allow the use of their airspace or bases on their soil for U.S. attacks on Iran.
Trump’s televised address Wednesday night did little to clarify his aims for the war or his timetable to end it. He repeated his threats to hit Iran’s infrastructure, including electrical plants, unless a deal was struck.
In Iran, commanders and political officials were defiant after Trump’s remarks.
“We will not tolerate this vicious cycle of war, negotiations, ceasefire and then repeating the same pattern,” Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said in a statement on Iran’s state news broadcaster.
Stocks pared earlier losses and oil prices moderated after unconfirmed reports that Iran and Oman were in talks to monitor marine traffic through the strait. The S&P 500 had fallen as much as 1.5% in earlier trading, before recovering to be roughly flat in afternoon trading. Oil prices also eased from their highs but still remained markedly higher for the day, with Brent, the international oil benchmark, up 6% to around $107 per barrel.