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US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after signing an executive order in the Oval Office on March 16, 2026. (UPI/Yonhap)

US President Donald Trump stressed Wednesday that the US would not need the assistance of NATO or major allies such as South Korea, Japan and Australia in its military operations in Iran.

Trump explained that many NATO members had expressed that they would not be joining in the operations.

In a message posted to the social media site Truth Social that day, Trump wrote, “The United States has been informed by most of our NATO ‘Allies’ that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran.”

He added that this was “despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon.”

He went on to say, “I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one way street.”

“We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” he complained.

Trump also claimed that the US had already achieved overwhelming military results from its operations in Iran.

“[Iran’s] Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again!” he emphasized.

Based on this assessment, he insisted, “Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea.”

He followed this reference to allies in the Indo-Pacific region by calling the US “by far the Most Powerful Country Anywhere in the World” and declaring, “WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!”

Trump had previously issued strong calls for allies such as South Korea and Japan to participate in an alliance sending warships to open the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively blockaded by the military clash with Iran. 

By Kim Won-chul, Washington correspondent

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