Nato chief says Trump ‘clearly disappointed’ by US allies’ refusal to join Iran war | Nato
NATO secretary general Mark Rutte said Donald Trump was “clearly disappointed” that US allies are refusing to join the war against Iran after a closed-door meeting in Washington on Wednesday.
Speaking to CNN after a private meeting with the US president, Rutte declined to say directly whether Trump had threatened to withdraw from the military alliance over the Iran war, but described the meeting as a “very frank, very open” discussion between “two good friends”.
The meeting between Trump and Rutte comes at a sensitive time, less than a day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire agreement that includes opening the Strait of Hormuz. The fragile agreement was signed after Trump threatened to target Iran’s civilian infrastructure and warned that “an entire civilization will die” if Tehran does not allow safe passage through the strait by a Tuesday evening deadline set by the president.
Before the meeting, Trump had stepped up his criticism of the 77-year-old alliance, calling it a “paper tiger” and suggesting the United States might consider leaving after NATO member states ignored calls for military aid to help reopen the critical waterway, the closure of which has sent global oil prices soaring.
“He told me clearly what he thought about what happened in the last few weeks,” Rutte said. in question In an interview on CNN, he declined to answer specific questions about whether Trump had expressed a desire to leave NATO. “This is a subtle picture.”
Although Rutte and Trump have had a relatively warm relationship in the past, the visit did not ease the president’s disdain for transatlantic military allies who did not support Washington during the Iran war.
In a post on Truth Social following the meeting, Trump wrote: “NATO WAS NOT THERE WHEN WE NEEDED IT AND THEY WON’T BE THERE WHEN WE NEED IT AGAIN. DON’T FORGET THAT BIG, MISMANAGED PIECE OF ICE, GREENLAND!!!” Trump said earlier this week that his latest frustrations with the alliance “started” with opposition to the takeover of Greenland.
Earlier Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged that Trump had discussed leaving NATO. “I think this is something the president will discuss with Secretary General Rutte in a few hours,” Leavitt said.
Trump has long been a critic of NATO and in his first term claimed that he had the authority to leave the alliance. But Congress passed a law in 2023 that prevents any US president from withdrawing from NATO without his approval.
The essence of the commitment made by the 32 NATO member countries is a mutual defense agreement in which an attack on one is considered an attack on all. The only time it was activated was in 2001, in support of the United States following the September 11 attacks.
Despite this, Trump complained that NATO had shown that it would not side with the United States during his chosen war with Iran.
Before the meeting, Republican senator Mitch McConnell made a statement supporting the alliance, saying: “After the September 11 attacks, NATO allies sent their young soldiers to fight and die alongside America’s soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.” McConnell, who sits on a committee that oversees defense spending, called on Trump to be “clear and consistent” and said it was not in America’s interest to “spend more time hating allies who share our interests rather than deterring adversaries who threaten us.”
It is unclear whether the Trump administration will challenge the law preventing the president from withdrawing from NATO. When it passed, it was championed by Trump’s current secretary of state, Marco Rubio, then a senator from Florida.
Rubio met separately with Rutte at the State Department on Wednesday morning. Rubio and Rutte discussed the war with Iran, as well as U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and “increased coordination and burden shifting with NATO allies,” the State Department said in a statement.
The alliance was rocked last year after Trump reduced US military support for Ukraine in the war against Russia and threatened to seize Greenland from Denmark.
But Trump’s anger towards NATO intensified with the start of the Iran war at the end of February. The president insisted that securing the Strait of Hormuz is not the job of the United States but the responsibility of countries that depend on the flow of oil through the strait.
“Go to the throat and get it,” Trump said last week.
Trump was also angered that NATO allies Spain and France banned or restricted the use of their airspace or joint military facilities for the United States in the Iran war. But they and other countries agreed to help an international coalition to open the Strait of Hormuz once the conflict ends.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a particular source of Trump’s frustration, is preparing to travel to the Gulf to support the ceasefire. Britain is trying to develop a post-conflict security plan for the strait.
Associated Press contributed reporting
