Trump Criticises NATO, Australia, Japan, and South Korea for Not Helping Against Iran

US President Donald Trump has directed strong criticism towards NATO and several major allies. Trump considers these allied countries not assisting his nation in the war against Iran. According to Al Jazeera on Tuesday (7 April 2026), Trump made his statement during his latest press conference. He repeated his frequent criticism that NATO is a “paper tiger”, and specifically mentioned Australia, Japan, and South Korea, stating that they “are not helping us”. Trump brought up that his country has deployed tens of thousands of US troops to Japan. This assistance is in the form of protection from North Korean military forces. “We have 50,000 troops in Japan to protect them from North Korea,” said Trump. He also mentioned tens of thousands of his troops in South Korean territory in a similar form of protection. “We have 45,000 troops in South Korea,” he stated.