WORRIES about the future of NATO continued on Thursday (April 2) after U.S. President Donald Trump made his prime-time speech the previous evening, even though he did not repeat his threats on withdrawing the United States from NATO.

Trump had suggested on Tuesday (March 30) he could wind down the war soon without a deal and scaled up threats to withdraw from NATO, to which he told Reuters he planned to express his disgust for what he considers its lack of support.

European states have sought to appear unruffled, and France's junior army minister Alice Rufo said operations by NATO in the Strait of Hormuz would be a breach of international law.

Trump did not explicitly mention NATO in his address but urged countries needing oil to buy it from the United States or to "build up some delayed courage."

"Go to the Strait and just take it," Trump said. "Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done, so it should be easy."