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Home / NATO / Europe is in mutiny against Trump
NATO, Alliances, Europe and Eurasia, Iran, Middle East, US‑Israel‑Iran

April 1, 2026

Europe is in mutiny against Trump

By Daniel DePetris

The longer the war in Iran churns on, the President Trump’s frustration grows. On Tuesday, Trump was lambasting Washington’s European allies on Truth Social for sitting on their hands and refusing to lift a finger to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf chokepoint through which around 20 percent of the world’s crude oil passes. Calling out the United Kingdom specifically, Trump went on to scold the allies much as a parent would tell a lazy 28 year-old to get out of the house. “You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump wrote. The President pressed the issue during a short interview with his favorite tabloid: “let the countries that are using the strait, let them go and open it.”

In normal times, European leaders would scramble like headless chickens, dial each other up in a full-blown panic and brainstorm about how to appease the American Commander-in-Chief. When Trump barks, Europe usually answers the call to mollify him. Recall that last year, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni were instrumental in bringing Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy back into a functional relationship. Last summer, amidst a blow-up between Trump and Nato over defense spending, the organization’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, found a way to grease the skids via a substantial increase in spending over the next decade. The announcement was geared toward giving Trump a win and saving the annual Nato summit from disaster.
The war in Iran, however, has now caused stirrings of mutiny. European leaders are no longer interested in groveling to stay on Trump’s good side. Even Starmer, whose wimpishness is the stuff of Saturday Night Live legend, is increasingly perturbed by Trump’s decision-making, the lack of consultation and the White House’s demands for London to become more involved militarily. The decision to wage a preventative war on Iran, it seems, is perceived as so outlandish that even Washington’s traditional lackeys are staying away from it.
The evidence for the above conclusion is stark and growing by the day. On Monday, Spain, a country Trump has had longstanding grievances with over everything from trade to defense spending, not only shut its airspace for U.S. military aircraft participating in the war but also prohibited the U.S. from using jointly operated bases on Spanish territory for any activity connected to the conflict. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose approval ratings dipped earlier in the year, has since transitioned into one Europe’s leading statesmen and the chief antagonist to Trump’s America First policies. Sánchez may strongly oppose Trump’s Iran policy, but the war itself and Madrid’s reaction to it has nevertheless elevated his political stature.

Read at Spectator

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