European officials are pushing to form a "European NATO" in case the United States decides to stop participating in the alliance, with the main focus on replacing American assets on the continent, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, the objective is to have European officers in command-and-control positions who could take over if the Americans decided to leave the alliance.
While the idea had strong opposition from the main members of NATO until now, the report notes that it gained traction after Germany began supporting it in recent months.
This plan also doesn't aim to rival NATO, but rather to give Europe the tools to preserve nuclear deterrence and military cohesion against Russia in case the US decides to leave the alliance.
The plan was conceived a year ago, according to the Wall Street Journal, during the peak of tensions between European countries and the Trump administration. It gained traction over US President Donald Trump's desire to obtain Greenland from Denmark, and became a real project after Trump's latest comments about NATO's lack of help during the Iran war.
NATO's Secretary General, Mark Rutte, said recently that the alliance aimed to reduce its dependence on American officers and instead become more "European-led."
NATO allies refuse to join Trump's Strait of Hormuz blockade
The United States' NATO allies said on Monday they would not get involved in US President Donald Trump's plan to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, further ratcheting up tensions within the increasingly fragile alliance.
Trump said the US military would work with other countries to block all maritime traffic in the waterway, after weekend talks failed to reach an agreement to end the six-week conflict with Iran.
Their refusal to participate is yet another point of friction with Trump, who has threatened to withdraw from the military alliance and is weighing pulling some US troops from Europe after several countries resisted supporting the US campaign against Iran by denying US military planes use of their airspace.
Reuters contributed to this report.