Rubio Shades NATO Allies Who Called Iran War ‘Not Europe’s War’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio shaded NATO allies who have called the Iran War “not Europe’s war” on Thursday.

A reporter from C-Span asked Rubio if he would request the U.S.’s core Group of Seven (G7) allies — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and EU — assist with the Strait of Hormuz.

In response, Rubio said it is in the allies’ “interest to help” as “the other countries get far more of their fuel from there than we do.”

While Rubio did not specify what type of help he would request from G7, saying he would leave the specifics to the Justice Department, he doubled down on the fact that it would be in their “national interests” to assist.

The reporter asked Rubio his thoughts on President Donald Trump‘s Thursday criticisms of NATO, in which he raged against NATO as a “paper tiger” that had done “absolutely nothing.”

“I think he just made an observation, and the observation is that the United States is constantly being asked to help in a war, and we have more than any other country in the world on a war that’s happening in another content — in Ukraine,” Rubio said of Trump’s comments. “But, when the U.S. had a need, he didn’t get positive responses. So, right now, he’s just making the observation, you know, I think there’s a couple leaders in Europe who said that this was not Europe’s war. Well, Ukraine is not America’s war and yet we’ve contributed more to that fight than any other country in the world, so it’ll be something to examine — the president will have to take into account down the road.”

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway through which approximately 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas supply typically pass. It has been effectively shuttered since the Iran War began on Feb. 28, elevating oil prices across global markets.

On Wednesday, Iran’s mission to the United Nations announced it would allow “safe passage” to non-hostile vessels, meaning they “neither participate in nor support acts of aggression against Iran and fully comply with the declared safety and security regulations.”

During Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, Trump revealed the “present” Iran give him, which he has teased earlier in the week, as proof that he is negotiating with Iranian officials: oil sent through the Strait.

“They said to show you the fact that we’re real and solid and we’re there. We’re going to let you have eight boats of oil — eight boats, eight big boats of oil. This was two days ago. And they’ll sail up tomorrow — that was three days ago — and I didn’t think much about it,” Trump said of the alleged gift.

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