US President Donald Trump on Friday hit out at the "paper tiger" North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), criticising Washington's allies in the bloc for what he felt was their lack of support in the war between Iran and US-Israel forces, which nears three weeks.
Bringing up Iran's nuclear facilities—the destruction of which has been one of Washington's stated objectives since the war began—he scolded them for not helping open up the Hormuz Strait.
"COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!" he wrote in a tirade on a Truth Social post, declaring that Washington's allies in the bloc were just paper tigers without the US.
"They complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military manoeuvre that is the single reason for the high oil prices," he added in the post against longtime US allies in the bloc.
This comes despite six nations—five European nations and Japan—on Thursday agreeing to take "appropriate efforts" to secure the Hormuz Strait for the safe passage of vessels.
"We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning," read a joint statement from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands.
The six nations had also condemned Iran's "threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping", as per a Reuters report.
Mojtaba Khamenei's war statements
On the same day, Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei wrote on X that the Gulf chaos goes far beyond "missiles, drones, torpedoes, and military affairs”, praising his country's "relentless resistance" to "global arrogance" as the war turns almost three weeks old. However, THE WEEK could not independently verify all the posts.
“I express my condolences and sympathy to all the families and survivors of the honorable martyrs,” he wrote in another post, lamenting at the "third imposed war" after the 12-day conflict in June that saw the US use bunker-buster bombs on Iranian underground nuclear sites Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz and attacks from Israel.
He also praised Iran's steadfastness amid the war,as he wished the country on the occasion of Eid-al-Fitr and Nowruz (Persian New Year).
In another post on X, he praised Iranians for “building a nationwide defensive front" and "delivering such a bewildering blow that the enemy fell into contradictions and irrational statements".
As the attrition war in the Gulf worsens, Iran has threatened to target recreational and tourist sites worldwide and has insisted it was still building missiles, despite attacks on its weapons and energy industries.
The US, in turn, is deploying three more warships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, a US official said, as per an Associated Press report.