Rubio doubts NATO’s role after allies’ stance on Iran
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the refusal of certain partners to allow the use of their air bases for strikes against Iran raises questions about NATO's role.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by European Truth, citing the U.S. State Department.
According to the Secretary of State, one of the reasons he supported NATO was that it gave the U.S. the right to establish military bases.
"And so, when NATO partners deny you access to these bases—when the main reason why NATO is useful to America is now being denied to us, for example by Spain—then what is the point of the Alliance? It starts to turn into something like, 'They’re allies when it suits them,'" Rubio noted.
He acknowledged that there are NATO countries that have been very helpful: "I’ll single out just one—Portugal. They said ‘yes’ even before we asked—before we had a chance to explain the issue to them."
He also mentioned Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.
"Others, such as Spain, have behaved appallingly, simply appallingly. That’s why I really believe there are some very valid questions regarding NATO, namely: What is the purpose of being in the alliance, and what benefit do we derive from it in terms of these rights to host military bases, if during a conflict, such as the one we had with Iran, they can deny us the use of these bases?" he noted.
"So why are we there? Just to protect them, and not to advance our national interests? That’s a very valid question, and one we need to answer," Rubio said.
