U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s strongly considering pulling the United States out of NATO. Trump remarks have ratcheted up his criticism of European allies and exposed a wider rift in the trans-Atlantic alliance.

“The Iran war turned what was already the most turbulent period in transatlantic relations into a full-blown crisis,” writes Rajan Menon.

The French and Italian Navy carrier strike groups spent the past week carrying out maritime strikes and air patrols in the Mediterranean and Black seas as part of NATO’s Neptune Strike 26-1.  “From the flight deck of Charles De Gaulle,

One month into Operation Epic Fury against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a long-overdue conversation has finally broken into the open: What, exactly, is the enduring rationale for NATO? For decades, this question has been treated in Washington foreign policy circles as heretical.

"When we ask for additional assistance or simple access… we get questions or roadblocks or hesitation," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said today when asked about US support to NATO's collective defense.

Trump's meandering speech did little to assuage U.S. allies and world markets concerned about the conflict's ongoing disruptions to the global oil supply.