Trump says US 'strongly considering' NATO exit — calls alliance a 'paper tiger' after Iran war

US President Donald Trump said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph published on Wednesday April 1 (D33) that the United States is 'strongly considering' pulling out of NATO. Trump said 'Oh yes, I would say [it's] beyond considering,' the Guardian reported. Trump cited the failure of NATO allies to back the US in the Iran war as the reason for the statement, comparing the alliance to a 'paper tiger.' The statement was confirmed by Reuters ('LONDON, April 1'), BBC, Guardian, CNBC, and Metro. It represents the most direct and explicitly stated NATO exit threat of Trump's second term — and the first time Trump has connected the Iran war to a potential NATO withdrawal. The statement comes the same day as Trump's 9 PM EST national address and follows Secretary of State Rubio's D32 comment that 'the US will have to reexamine its relationship with NATO' after the conflict. Together, Rubio's 'reexamine' and Trump's 'strongly considering exit' represent a coherent signal of post-war structural rupture with the Western alliance. UK PM Starmer held a separate press conference this morning on the war's impact on Britain; the NATO exit threat adds urgency to the UK's position.