President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was “testing” NATO allies with Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
“We weren’t treated well. Because we did something in Iran. We don’t need anybody’s help. I didn’t even want the help. But before I asked, they said they wouldn’t be there,” Trump said in Turkey ahead of a two-day NATO summit.
“And we’ve invested trillions of dollars in NATO. Why? To protect European countries and others, Canada, etc. But to protect people, countries from generally speaking, it used to be the Soviet Union, now it’s Russia. And I say that’s fine, but you would think that they’d be very willing to do something to help us. And they really weren’t,” the president continued.
“We didn’t need any help at all. And in a way, I was testing people. I was testing to see whether or not they’d be there. Because I’ve long said that we help them, but I’m not sure that they’d be there for us,” Trump also said. “And Italy turned us down, and Germany turned us down, and France turned us down. And it’s okay. But, you know, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars and they are not there for us? We’ve always been there for them.”
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said Wednesday that Trump remains “disappointed” by allies that declined to allow U.S. forces to use military bases or overflight rights during Operation Epic Fury, as well as by political statements criticizing the strikes against Iran.
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this post.
Read the full article here