{"id":2602502,"date":"2026-05-14T06:30:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rubio-asks-whats-the-purpose-of-nato-alliance\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T06:31:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:31:05","slug":"rubio-asks-whats-the-purpose-of-nato-alliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rubio-asks-whats-the-purpose-of-nato-alliance\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio asks \u2018what\u2019s the purpose\u2019 of NATO alliance?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frubio-asks-whats-the-purpose-of-nato-alliance%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2602502&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio says teh U.S.has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/iranian-dissidents-claim-biden-state-dept-hire-is-pro-regime-advocate\/\" title=\"Iranian Dissidents Claim Biden State Dept Hire is Pro-Regime Advocate\">legitimate concerns<\/a> about NATO\u2019s value after several <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >alliance members denied<\/a> U.S. requests to use their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hayward-the-next-war-a-look-ahead-at-hypersonic-missiles-a-i-space-combat-and-bio-weapons\/\" title=\"Hayward \u2013 The Next War: A Look Ahead at Hypersonic Missiles, A.I., Space Combat, and Bio-Weapons\">air bases<\/a> and airspace during the war with Iran. Speaking aboard Air Force One on his way to a summit in China, Rubio argued that basing access-one of the main reasons he supported NATO-undermines the alliance if it can be withheld in a crisis. He acknowledged that some countries were helpful, including Portugal, and also mentioned support from Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania, but he sharply criticized countries such as Spain and others for refusing assistance. Rubio concluded that the U.S. should reassess what NATO is for if the alliance won\u2019t meaningfully support U.S. interests in times of conflict.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p>Secretary of State <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/marco-rubio\/\">Marco Rubio<\/a> wonders what the point of the United States remaining in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is if countries in the alliance won\u2019t help the United States when needed.<\/p>\n<p>Rubio made the comments on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity aboard Air Force One en route to the summit in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/china\/\">China<\/a>. He questioned whether the countries are actually committed to an alliance with the U.S. after several <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/nato\/\">NATO<\/a> countries refused to grant the U.S. permission to use its air bases for operations in the war with Iran.\u00a0Rubio was miffed with those <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/g20-leaders-back-bidens-global-minimum-tax\/\" title=\"G20 Leaders Back Biden\u2019s \u2018Global Minimum Tax\u2019\">countries\u2019 decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4566166\/democrats-not-good-faith-operation-guy-benson\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Democrats not a \u2018good faith operation\u2019: Guy Benson<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4566173\/utah-democrat-force-out-salt-lake-city-council-scandal\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Utah Democrat forced out of Salt Lake City Council after scandals<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4565957\/rand-paul-teases-testimony-cia-whistleblower-covid-cover-up\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Rand Paul teases testimony of CIA whistleblower about the \u2018great COVID cover-up\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><strong>\u201c<\/strong>I\u2019ve been a supporter of NATO throughout my career in the Senate,\u201d Rubio <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/releases\/office-of-the-spokesperson\/2026\/05\/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-with-sean-hannity-of-fox-news-channel\/\">told<\/a> Hannity in the interview. \u201cAnd one of the reasons why I supported NATO was because it gave us basing rights. It allowed us to have bases in Europe that we could use in a contingency like something in the Middle East where you could have planes flying from some country in Europe and actually protecting our national interest in the Middle East, as an example, or in Africa.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>\u201cAnd so when you have NATO partners denying you the use of those bases \u2013 when the primary reason why NATO is good for America is now being denied to us by Spain, as an example \u2013 then what\u2019s the purpose of the Alliance?\u2019 Rubio <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/releases\/office-of-the-spokesperson\/2026\/05\/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-with-sean-hannity-of-fox-news-channel\/\">said<\/a>. \u201cIt starts becoming a \u2018they\u2019re allies when they want to be\u2019 kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some NATO countries denied U.S requests for assistance in its war with Iran, ranging from prohibiting the U.S. from using air bases and airspace. Italy said the U.S. couldn\u2019t use Sigonella Naval Air Station in Sicily for aircraft that were going to be used in military operations in Iran. Other countries, such as Spain, said the U.S. couldn\u2019t use its bases or airspace for aircraft being used in Operation Epic Fury. The lack of cooperation has further increased tension between the U.S. and the alliance. <\/p>\n<p>Rubio, however, did make sure to credit several NATO countries that were helpful to the U.S., assisting with requests in some instances \u201cbefore we even asked.\u201d He highlighted Portugal\u2019s efforts in his remarks to Hannity, while also mentioning Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania in a positive light.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd look, to be fair, there are countries in NATO that were very helpful to us,\u201d Rubio <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/releases\/office-of-the-spokesperson\/2026\/05\/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-with-sean-hannity-of-fox-news-channel\/\">said<\/a>. Just singling one out \u2013 Portugal.\u00a0 They said yes before we even asked \u2013 told them what the question was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4566356\/china-exercises-linguistic-license-allows-sanctioned-rubio\/\"><strong>CHINA EXERCISES LINGUISTIC LICENSE TO ALLOW SANCTIONED RUBIO INTO COUNTRY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPoland. So there are countries \u2013 Romania, Bulgaria,\u201d Rubio added before criticizing those countries that refused to help the U.S. and questioning whether the U.S. should remain in NATO after recent events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOthers like Spain have been atrocious, just horrifying,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cSo I do think there are some very legitimate questions to ask about NATO, and that is: What is the purpose of being in an alliance whose benefit to us is these basing rights if, in a time of conflict like the one we\u2019ve had with Iran, they can deny us the use of those bases?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo why are we there for? Only to protect them but not to further our national interest?\u201d Rubio asked. \u201cThis is a very legitimate question that we need to address.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rubio questions why the U.S. stays in NATO if allies won\u2019t help<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2602503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26125730605945.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[57860,32402,34360,50459,36408],"class_list":["post-2602502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-defense-alliance","tag-international-relations","tag-marco-rubio","tag-nato-2","tag-us-foreign-policy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26125730605945.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2602502"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2602506,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602502\/revisions\/2602506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2602503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2602502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2602502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}