White House Flags Military Option for Greenland Grab

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump and his advisers are exploring “a range of options” to seize Greenland, with a White House statement on Tuesday stressing that military action remains “always an option.”

“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, adding that the president’s team is exploring a range of options and that “utilizing the US military is always an option.”

Leavitt’s comments came as the leaders of major European powers pushed back against Trump’s long-running desire to seize the Arctic territory.

On Tuesday, France, Germany, Britain, and other leaders joined Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in urging the US to respect Greenland’s sovereignty, stressing that “Greenland belongs to its people” and that decisions about the territory are “for Denmark and Greenland, and them only.”

Greenland’s government requested an “urgent” meeting with the US State Department, Greenlandic FM Vivian Motzfeldt, and Danish FM Lars Lokke Rasmussen to address “the US’s claims about our country.”

After an emergency session on “The Kingdom’s relations with the United States,” Danish FM Lars Lokke Rasmussen told DR that the meeting would let Denmark and Greenland correct Trump’s claims, saying, “We do not share this image that Greenland is plastered with Chinese investments … nor that there are Chinese warships up and down along Greenland.”

Denmark’s Defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said after the meeting that Denmark had spent billions to increase security in Greenland, not, as Trump had claimed this week, by adding just “one more dog sled”.

Frederiksen previously warned that an attack by the US on a NATO ally would mean the “end” of the military alliance and “post-second world war security”. It would, she said, be the end of “everything”.

Trump has again pushed for a US takeover of Greenland after the arrest of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, saying he “needs Greenland very badly,” a stance that has escalated tensions with Denmark and Europe — even though Greenland repeatedly rejects joining the US and polls show most Americans oppose such a move.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller suggested Denmark has no claim to Greenland and that “nobody is going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,” after his wife, the rightwing podcaster Katie Miller, posted a photo of the US flag over the island captioned “SOON.”

In a private briefing on Capitol Hill, Rubio told lawmakers on Monday that the administration would prefer to buy the island from Denmark rather than invade it, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Greenland’s strategic location between the US and Russia makes it a key defense hub as climate change and militarization raise tensions. Trump calls it vital to US security, and European leaders, who once downplayed his interest, now take his ambitions more seriously after Maduro’s capture.

At a Paris press conference, UK PM Keir Starmer defended his earlier statement, saying “Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark must determine the future of Greenland and nobody else,” when asked about US talks of seizing the territory.

Meanwhile, in Washington, top congressional Republicans sought to downplay the likelihood of military action in Greenland, with the Senate majority leader, John Thune, telling Politico: “That to me is not something anybody is contemplating seriously.”

Rep. Ryan Zinke, former Interior Secretary, said he wasn’t surprised Trump wouldn’t rule out using military force on Greenland, but noted, “Greenland is different. Greenland is obviously a NATO partner.”

Democrats warned Trump’s threats are serious. Sen. Ruben Gallego introduced legislation to “prohibit the use of funds for military force…against Greenland,” accusing Trump of wanting it just to have a “giant island with his name on it” and warning, “The US military is not a toy.”