President Donald Trump denounced NATO as “COWARDS,” ratcheting up his rhetoric against the military alliance over its refusal to help the US reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway blocked since the start of the Iran war.
Trump has lashed out at US allies and major trading partners for failing to heed his calls to provide warships to help tankers and other vessels safely transit the narrow passage, a chokepoint for about a fifth of the world’s oil supply. The situation has spurred volatility in energy markets and sent oil and gas prices soaring.
‘Without the U.S.A., NATO IS A PAPER TIGER! So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!’, Trump said Friday on social media. ‘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’.”