US President Donald Trump has been discussing “a range of options” to acquire Greenland, including use of the military, the White House said.

In a statement, the White House told the BBC that acquiring Greenland was a “national security priority”.

It comes after Trump again said at the weekend that the US “needed” Greenland – a semi-autonomous region of fellow Nato member Denmark – for security reasons.

European allies rallied earlier on Tuesday in support of Denmark following renewed insistence by the US that it must have control over Greenland. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned on Monday any attack by the US would spell the end of Nato.

The White House said on Tuesday: “The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the Commander-in-Chief’s disposal.”

Nato is a trans-Atlantic military group where allies are expected to go to each other’s aid in case of external attacks.

The issue of Greenland’s future resurfaced in the wake of the US military intervention in Venezuela, during which elite troops went in to seize the country’s President Nicolás Maduro and take him to face drugs and weapons charges in New York.

A day after that raid, Katie Miller – the wife of one of Trump’s senior aides – posted a map on social media of Greenland in the colours of the American flag, alongside the word “SOON”.

On Monday, her husband Stephen Miller said it was “the formal position of the US government that Greenland should be part of the US”.

In an interview with CNN, he also said the US “is the power of Nato. For the US to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend Nato and Nato interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the US.”

Asked repeatedly whether the US would rule out using force to annex it, Miller responded: “Nobody’s going to fight the US over the future of Greenland.”