The growing rift between Unites States president Donald Trump and his Nato partners is a very worrying development for the West. Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk hit the nail on the head in a social media post in English, in which he said: “The threat of Nato’s break-up, easing sanctions on Russia, a massive energy crisis in Europe, halting aid for Ukraine and blocking the (EU) loan for Kyiv by (Hungarian PM Victor) Orban – it all looks like Putin’s dream plan.”

Tusk was responding to Trump’s latest outburst again Nato. On Wednesday, the American president said he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United State from Nato because of the lack of support from alliance members in the US war on Iran. He had been urging European countries to commit troops to the war in order to wrest control of the Strait of Hormuz from Iran. His calls, quite justifiably, were ignored. Trump had started the war on Iran without consultation with any of his Nato allies, whom he now wants to join the war.

The troubled relations between Trump and his allies began last summer over defence spending and he was appeased by the Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte who arranged an increase in spending for the next decade. There does not seem to be an obvious solution to the latest rift, although Rutte announced he would be visiting Washington in the coming days, presumably in an attempt to smooth things over.

The fact is that Europeans have finally decided to stand up to Trump. Not only are they refusing to support US operations in Iran, but they are also refusing to offer access to bases and airspace. America’s traditional allies consider the war on Iran so ill thought out they do not want to have any part in it. Spain’ prime minister, Pedro Sanchez shut Spanish airspace to US military aircraft and banned the use of military bases on its territory by the US. France, it was claimed, refused to allow US military planes carrying weapons to fly through its airspace. Even the pro-US Poles turned down a request to give air defence systems to the Middle East.

The divisions in Nato, as Tusk said, will have been welcomed in Russia, with which Trump appears to have more friendly relations than with his Western allies. This is not a good situation for the West, but it was about time European states stopped acting like US satellites and stood up to Trump. They are perfectly entitled to oppose America’s war on Iran and to refuse to be dragged into it by Trump’s bullying and threats. This is America and Israel’s war, in which neither Nato nor individual member-states had a say. They are absolutely right in refusing to take any part in it.