Trump says Iran war "close to over" amid hopes for more negotiations
Investing.com - European officials are working on a plan to ensure the continent can defend itself should the U.S. choose to leave the NATO alliance, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The proposal, which would see Europe use NATO's existing military structures, has gained traction thanks to support from Germany, the paper reported.
Berlin has long been opposed to Europe approaching its own defense without significant aid from the U.S., although this attitude has reportedly begun to shift as U.S. President Donald Trump makes frequent threats to reconsider America's role as a guarantor of European security.
Worries around Europe's defense capabilities have also risen as Russia's multiyear war in Ukraine continues to drag on.
Against this backdrop, some officials working on the plans are looking to place more Europeans in NATO's command-and-control roles and supplement U.S. military assets with their own, the WSJ said. The paper added that this would amount to a major overhaul of NATO's structure, given that much of it is built around American leadership in areas like logistics and intelligence.
Trump has frequently criticized NATO during the Iran war, arguing that the alliance has not done enough to help unblock oil shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz. He has suggested that he is now reconsidering U.S. membership in NATO.
The president's threat to take over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO member Denmark, has accelerated European concerns over U.S. commitment to the organization, the WSJ said.
