Rubio says US will 'have to reexamine' NATO relationship

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the United States “is going to have to reexamine” its relationship with NATO once the war against Iran has concluded.

“I think there’s no doubt, unfortunately, after this conflict is concluded, we are going to have to reexamine that relationship. We’re going to have to reexamine the value of NATO in that alliance for our country,” Rubio said to host Sean Hannity on Fox News.

He added that “ultimately” it would be a decision for President Donald Trump to make.

The top US diplomat said he had been “one of the strongest defenders of NATO” while he was in the US Senate because he “found great value in it.”

Much of that value was in having military bases in Europe that allowed the US military “to project power into different parts of the world,” Rubio said.

“If now we have reached a point where the NATO alliance means that we can’t use those bases, that in fact we can no longer use those bases to defend America’s interests, then NATO is a one-way street,” he added.

Rubio went further, saying that while Washington was not asking NATO allies to conduct airstrikes as part of the war against Iran, “when we need them to allow us to use their military bases, their answer is ‘No?’ Then why are we in NATO? You have to ask that question.”

Rubio’s comments come after several European countries have restricted the US military from using bases on their soil.

Earlier on Tuesday, it was revealed that Italy had denied a US aircraft permission to land while it was en route to the Middle East for a combat mission.

And on Monday, Spain closed its airspace to US planes carrying out missions against Iran.