{"id":2602557,"date":"2026-05-14T08:32:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rubio-whats-the-purpose-of-nato-alliance\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T08:33:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:33:06","slug":"rubio-whats-the-purpose-of-nato-alliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rubio-whats-the-purpose-of-nato-alliance\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio: \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\">14<\/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-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=2602557&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 questioned the value of the U.S. staying in NATO, arguing that the alliance\u2019s practical benefits-especially access to bases in Europe-are undermined when NATO partners refuse U.S.requests during crises. He made the remarks in an interview with Fox News\u2019 Sean Hannity while traveling to a NATO summit in China, noting that several countries blocked U.S. use of <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 in the conflict with Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Rubio said NATO was supported in part as it gave the U.S. \u201cbasing rights\u201d that enable operations in places like the Middle East or Africa. But, he argued, refusals by countries such as spain and others effectively make NATO feel like an arrangement where members help only when it suits them. He pointed to examples including Italy\u2019s limits on using the Sigonella Naval Air Station for Iran-bound operations and Spain\u2019s denial of base and airspace access for aircraft used in Operation Epic Fury.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Rubio credited some NATO countries-like Portugal-for being supportive \u201cbefore we even asked,\u201d and also <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >mentioned positive cooperation<\/a> from Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania.Still, he said the recent lack of support raises a \u201cvery legitimate\u201d question about NATO\u2019s purpose for the U.S. and whether the alliance primarily protects members rather than advancing American national interests.  <\/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> wondered what the point of the United States remaining in NATO is if countries in the alliance won\u2019t help the U.S. 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 their air bases for operations in the war with Iran.\u00a0Rubio was miffed with those countries\u2019 decision.<\/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\/4567949\/rubio-asks-whats-the-purpose-of-nato-alliance\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Rubio: \u2018What\u2019s the purpose\u2019 of NATO alliance?<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\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<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><strong>\u201c<\/strong>I\u2019ve been a supporter of NATO throughout my career in the Senate,\u201d <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\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/releases\/office-of-the-spokesperson\/2026\/05\/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-with-sean-hannity-of-fox-news-channel\/\">Rubio told Hannity<\/a> 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<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">SECRETARY RUBIO: One of the reasons I supported NATO is because it gave us basing rights in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>So when NATO partners like Spain deny us use of these bases, the primary reason for why NATO is good for America, then what is the purpose of the alliance? <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ufJxRHkbeY\">pic.twitter.com\/ufJxRHkbeY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Department of State (@StateDept) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StateDept\/status\/2054760635775516809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 14, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAnd so when you have NATO partners denying you the use of those bases \u2014 when the primary reason why NATO is good for America is now being denied to us by Spain, as an example \u2014 then what\u2019s the purpose of the alliance?\u2019 Rubio said. \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 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, credited 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 said. Just singling one out, Portugal.\u00a0They said yes before we even asked \u2014 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 \u2014 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>Marco Rubio questioned NATO\u2019s value if allies won\u2019t help the U.S<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2602558,"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":[],"tags":[79653,3998,50462,50459,5438],"class_list":["post-2602557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-alliance-purpose","tag-defense","tag-foreign-policy-2","tag-nato-2","tag-rubio"],"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\/2602557","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=2602557"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2602561,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602557\/revisions\/2602561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2602558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2602557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2602557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}