Trump threatens to quit NATO, says US may exit Iran war soon

Global oil supplies are expected to be hit twice as hard this month as in March, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday, underlining the urgent need to resolve the conflict over Iran that U.S. President Donald Trump said could end soon.

While Trump signalled he could wind down the war within weeks even without a deal, he also scaled up threats to pull the United States out of the NATO defence alliance if European states did not help stop Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz.

“I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin knows that too, by the way,” Trump told Britain’s Daily Telegraph, saying he had moved beyond merely reconsidering U.S. membership.

The remarks on the war underscored Washington’s shifting and at times contradictory statements about a conflict that has killed thousands, spread across the region and caused unprecedented energy disruption.

“We’ll be leaving (the Iran conflict) very soon,” Trump told reporters, saying that could be “within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three.”

“Iran doesn’t have to make a deal, no,” he said, when asked if successful diplomacy was a prerequisite for the U.S. to end what it calls “Operation Epic Fury”.