US President Donald Trump is facing not only pushback from the opposition Democrats but from his own Republican Party over his comments about a possible US withdrawal from NATO.
In a joint statement released on Wednesday, Democrat Chris Coons and Republican Mitch McConnell, the former Senate majority leader, wrote that US citizens were safer when NATO was strong.
"The Senate will continue to support the alliance for the peace and protection it provides America, Europe, and the world," the statement said.
In any case, Trump could not decide on a withdrawal on his own. He would need a two-thirds majority in the Senate.
The two senators also pointed out that NATO has gone to war only once since its founding in 1949, in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. They warned that this support and the sacrifices made by NATO troops should not be forgotten in the US.
"NATO troops fought and died in Afghanistan and Iraq alongside American forces. The United States must not take this sacrifice – nor our allies' commitment to make it again – lightly."
Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently again threatened that the United States would leave NATO over allies' refusal to get involved in the war in Iran.
However, the US president did not mention the defence alliance in his address to the nation watched by millions of US viewers on Wednesday evening.
Earlier, when asked by the British newspaper The Telegraph if he would reconsider NATO membership, Trump said: "Oh yes, I would say [it's] beyond reconsideration."
Trump is annoyed that various NATO members are not supporting the war started by the US and Israel against Iran. This includes, among other things, the use of NATO country bases and help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has effectively closed and through which part of global trade and important oil supplies pass.
