President Donald Trump criticized NATO on Saturday over its continued refusal to participate in the ongoing U.S. war on Iran and “help” the U.S. with Iran’s dynamic control of the Strait of Hormuz.
NATO has been a frequent target for Trump, who reiterated his complaints during a speech at the Deerfield Residence in Dublin, the official home of the U.S. ambassador to Ireland, after stating, “I sort of hate to see what’s happening with Europe.”
“I hate to see what’s happening on trade, I hate to see what’s happening on energy, and I hate to see what’s happening on immigration,” said Trump. “Woo, that immigration. What you’re doing to yourselves, you’re just killing yourselves. But we’re going to work with them.”
He added, “Very disappointing in many ways, that NATO didn’t want to help us with the strait, even though we don’t get any oil from the strait. We don’t need it. We have a lot of oil. We have more oil than anybody, as you know, but we thought it was important.”
A fifth of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has essentially tightened its grip on since the start of the war. This has driven oil prices up: It is trading at more than $100 per barrel for the first time in months.
Trump has offered muddy reasoning for launching the war and hasn’t reached any of the stated objectives he laid out earlier this year. He has consistently expressed his frustration with NATO allies.
“I said, ‘Would you like to help us with the Hormuz strait?’” Trump said regarding NATO on Saturday. He recalled European leaders turning him down, before appearing to suggest that he declined their support himself: “But I put it down because, why the hell are we helping them? So, you’ll be hearing that later.”
Trump has caused notable friction with French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and other NATO leaders for failing to consult them before his war — which has disrupted the world economy and sparked fears of a global energy crisis.
Trump, who is visiting Ireland for the closing weekend of the 2026 Amgen Irish Open at his Doonbeg golf resort, even claimed NATO is “saving us a lot of money” by opting out of his war, stating, “I didn’t do a heavy sell. I didn’t do a Trump kind of a sell.”