India, April 3 -- US President Donald Trump says he's strongly considering pulling the United States out of NATO, ratcheting up his criticism of European leaders and exposing a wider rift in the trans-Atlantic alliance - this time over the Iran war.

While Trump's talk of a possible NATO pullout dates back years, the comments to The Telegraph newspaper in the UK, published Wednesday, were among the clearest and most disparaging yet - suggesting that the fracture has deepened perhaps to a point of no return.

Asked whether he would reconsider US membership in the alliance after the conflict in the Middle East ends, Trump replied, "I would say (it's) beyond reconsideration." Congress passed legislation in 2023 that would prevent any preside...