Washington, July 28 (SANA)The United States has launched a review of its military presence in Europe, a move the Pentagon said is intended to reassess force deployments and encourage European allies to assume greater responsibility for conventional defense withinthe North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).U.S. Under Secretary of DefenseElbridge Colbysaid in a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday that the review is designed to ensure NATO moves “rapidly and irreversibly” toward a Europe that assumes primary responsibility for its conventional defense.“This will be a genuine review designed to ensure that NATO moves—rapidly and irreversibly—toward a Europe that assumes the primary responsibility for its conventional defense,” Colby wrote.He added that the outcome of the review would “accelerate NATO’s transition toward a stronger, fairer and more sustainable alliance.”The announcement follows remarks made by U.S. Defense SecretaryPete Hegsethduring a NATO defense ministers’ meeting in June, when he warned that Washington could reduce its contribution to the alliance’s budget if certain member states failed to fulfill commitments made at last year’s NATO Summit in The Hague.The United States has also sharply criticized several European countries for refusing to allow U.S. forces to use NATO bases on their territories during the war against Iran.