Washington DC - President Donald Trump dropped his strongest hint yet that he was looking to pull the US out of NATO as he continued to rage over a lack of support for his war on Iran.

Asked whether he would reconsider NATO membership, Trump told the Telegraph: "Oh yes, I would say (it's) beyond reconsideration."

He added: "I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin knows that too, by the way."

Trump has repeatedly blasted NATO allies for refusing to send warships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has virtually closed since the start of the unprovoked US-Israeli assault, causing oil and gas prices to spike.

"Beyond not being there, it was actually hard to believe. And I didn't do a big sale. I just said, 'Hey,' you know, I didn't insist too much. I just think it should be automatic," he said in the Telegraph interview.

"We've been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn't our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren't there for us."

Trump rebuked the UK in particular for refusing to get involved in the Iran war, and suggested the Royal Navy was not ready.

"You don't even have a navy. You're too old and had aircraft carriers that didn't work," he said.

Asked if British Prime Minister Keir Starmer should spend more on defense, Trump insisted: "I'm not going to tell him what to do. He can do whatever he wants. It doesn’t matter. All Starmer wants is costly windmills that are driving your energy prices through the roof."

Starmer dismissed the comments as "noise" and praised NATO as "the most effective military alliance the world has ever seen," while again insisting the UK would not "get dragged into" the war.