US President Donald Trump doubled down on his criticism of Nato member states’ refusal to aid Washington’s military operation in the Middle East, while noting that his country would consider selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey after years of deadlock.
In his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, the US president, who arrived in Ankara to attend this year’s Nato summit, said he was “very disappointed” with fellow Nato member states during Washington’s military operation against Iran and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Noting that he would have skipped this year’s summit if it were not hosted in Turkey by his “friend” Erdogan, Trump said that the US was “not treated well” during the Iran conflict, despite Washington’s “trillions of dollars” worth of investment into Nato in the past several decades to protect European countries and Canada from the Soviet Union and Russia.
“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 … and in a way, I was testing people,” Trump said, while addressing the media and sitting next to Erdogan.
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“I was testing to see whether or not they’d be there, because I’ve long said that we helped them, but I’m not sure that they’d be there for us.