March 17, 2026
So is President Trump asking for NATO’s help to try and reopen the Strait of Hormuz or not? Well at least today – he says we don’t need their help.
But why did Trump turn around so quickly after he explicitly asked for help from our allies yesterday? Well – I’ll give you three concrete examples of what happened. This is a statement from the German chancellor’s office who responded to Trump’s call for help in the Strait by saying “this war has nothing to do with NATO. It’s not NATO’s war. NATO is a defensive alliance, an alliance for the defense of its territory.” Stefan Kornelius, a spokesperson for German chancellor Friedrich Merz. The UK prime minister insisted that Britain “will not be drawn into the wider war,” and said British troops should only be sent into action that is legal and has “a proper thought-through plan.” Today the French president said “we are not party to the conflict and therefore France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context.” macron
When the United States wants to get involved in some kind of military conflict or war – if they are seeking the help of the NATO allies to conduct that operation– generally – not always – but generally — those allies are informed and consulted *before* the US takes that action. Not after. Before. And then a long – and sometimes drawn-out process of coalition building happens. President George W. Bush used to call it a “coalition of the willing.” But in the case of Iran, we know – that the Trump administration and Israel –not only– did not inform the NATO allies before the war began – but the US reportedly also did not inform our middle eastern allies – in Kuwait and UAE and Saudi Arabia and Bahrain…and they ended up being hit by Iran as a result of these US and Israeli strikes. On top of that – don’t forget – that President Trump has spent the last year back in office berating our NATO allies. That’s not my opinion we all watched just a few months ago when Trump openly said the US was going to take Greenland – by force if necessary. Greenland is a territory of Denmark – which is a NATO ally. Trump has also said repeatedly that the United States is NATO and the rest of the alliance would be nothing without the US. And on top of that Trump has individually criticized the leaders of NATO countries about their domestic policies on everything from immigration to energy and culture war issues.
So – think about your own work life. Imagine you and your colleagues are technically all on the same team you all work for the same company. But imagine one colleague does nothing but trash the work you produce, trash you as an employee and openly campaigns that you are unnecessary so your boss should cut your pay…. Like trump did with his massive tariffs on NATO allies. And then one day that same colleague after all that trash talking – comes to you and demands your help on a project that he or she is knee deep in. What do you do? In the case of the NATO allies – they said no. Because they were not consulted prior to this war and because they see this as an aggressive move by the United States who was not attacked first and because Trump made the decision unilaterally. That’s what the German chancellor means by NATO is a defensive alliance. NATO is activated when one of its member nations is attacked. Not when the President of the United States decides to go to war before being attacked first.
But that’s the part that Trump isn’t telling you about why these NATO allies are saying no. And instead, he’s framing it like this.
The fact is – the one and only time that article five of the NATO alliance treaty has ever been invoked – was after the United States was attacked on September 11th. And in that case – every NATO ally came to the defense of the United States and sent troops to fight alongside the United States in the middle east.
Watch Trump yesterday here.
Watch Trump today here.
