“…it is totally unacceptable for NATO members to not even meet and discuss the imminent [danger of US withdrawal] from NATO. Also to discuss what action NATO can take to secure the Strait of Hormuz … as it did over Afghanistan.  …It is inconceivable that America should withdraw without NATO collectively discussing their complaints…. READ THE FULL RELEASE:…

Press release, 2 April 2026:

NATO‘s own procedures respect the role of the US Congress as well as their own democratic bodies.  They are built into NATO’s democratic credentials. For instance, NATO meets once a year with Foreign Secretaries and Heads of Government, that is a demonstration that NATO is an alliance with deep democratic roots.

Trump has been bluntly expressing in public his anger over the response of NATO countries not to support  American forces in their attack on Iran.  He has also publicly expressed in emotive words his anger as far as  the UK was concerned about the long UK 17-day wait for permission to use Diego Garcia air base and Fairford airfield in the UK.

Allies, as most would understand the word, should try to be supportive to the greatest  extent possible when they are not in agreement to the policy being advocated by one of its members.  The UK and many other members of NATO individually decided not to support a policy of war against Iran. An option was to say NATO did not support the American policy straight out and refuse cooperation.  But that necessitated a meeting of NATO.

The Secretary General of NATO  should have called together a forum for such a debate and in that forum expressed his own personal view that NATO should support the US. But he did not call a meeting of NATO as was his duty. It is not acceptable for him to decide;  his responsibility was to express a view once NATO had discussed the issue.

Now, even at this late date it is totally unacceptable for NATO members to not even meet and discuss the imminent danger that the US might withdraw from NATO. Also to discuss what action NATO can take to secure the Strait of Hormuz outside its own area as it did over Afghanistan.  NATO is not the personal possession of governments or individuals who are temporarily in office.  It is a democratically rooted structure answerable to the people who it represents.  It is inconceivable that America should withdraw without NATO collectively discussing their complaints, addressing the issues and trying to find a democratic resolution.

David Owen, former Foreign Secretary and EU peace negotiator in the former Yugoslavia