US President Donald Trump returned to a familiar theme in his meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte, criticizing European countries for not supporting the US-Israel war against Iran.
Trump, sitting across from Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House, reiterated his frustration with the failure of NATO allies to participate in the war effort.
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Trump said of Iran: “We didn’t need any help with this. We literally destroyed them in the first week.”
“But I wish they would have said, ‘We want to help.'” It wasn’t necessary, but it would have been nice to hear that. ”
President Trump has publicly considered withdrawing from the Atlantic Alliance, but has indicated that he intends to discuss the issue further with Rutte behind closed doors.
“We’re going to talk about what happened and we’ll see what happens,” he said.
President Trump has frequently expressed disappointment that European countries did not do more to support the United States in its war against Iran, which has sparked weeks of conflict across the Middle East and shocked the global economy.
But Rutte’s appearance in the Oval Office comes at a critical time. About two weeks later, on July 7, NATO is scheduled to hold its annual summit in Turkiye’s capital Ankara.
Rutte is widely seen as sympathetic to Trump, and critics see his White House visit as an attempt to appease the US president.
President Trump also praised Rutte at Wednesday’s meeting, calling him “a great person, a great leader, a great secretary general.”
Referring to his disappointment with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance, President Trump said, “If anyone else was in that position, I honestly wouldn’t even be meeting you today, because we were disappointed.”
Rutte opened his Oval Office address with a series of graphs showing increases in defense spending by NATO countries.
He also praised the U.S. attack on Iran, displaying the trademark flattery that characterizes his approach in managing the fragile relationship between President Trump and his European allies.
Rutte called President Trump “the leader of the free world” and said: “I want to make it really clear how important what you are doing to Iran is.”
“This is first of all about the nuclear capabilities that Iran was basically trying to acquire, which would have been a threat to the region. It would have been a threat to the whole world. Iran is a country that exports chaos, exports terror.”
Despite Mr. Rutte’s claims, there is no evidence that Iran was on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon when the United States and Israel launched their attacks on February 28, starting the war.
The attack came as the United States is negotiating with Iran over the future of its nuclear program. Many experts have condemned the military attack as unfounded and likely a violation of international law.
Earlier this week, U.S. and Iranian delegations traveled to Switzerland to negotiate an interim ceasefire memorandum signed on June 17.
One of the major impasses in the current negotiations is sea control of the Strait of Hormuz, a key conduit for world goods including oil, fertilizers and natural gas.
Since the start of the war, Iran has blocked traffic in the strait near its coast. A June memorandum led to Iran lifting its stranglehold on the waterway, pending further discussions.
But in March, when the blockade was in full swing, President Trump called on NATO allies to send troops to protect the waterway. Failure to do so “would be very bad for the future of NATO,” he warned.
Although NATO allies have not committed military force to the conflict, Mr. Rutte on Wednesday sought to advance the claim that they had helped in other ways.
The NATO chief positively noted the central role played by military bases in Europe in the war.
“If you look at the numbers, in the six weeks that this war was going on, 4-5,000 American military aircraft were flying out of European bases,” Rutte said.
“I know there are individual cases where you’re really disappointed, but generally speaking, our European allies were there.”
He acknowledged President Trump’s complaints, but dismissed them as not representing the NATO alliance.
“I totally agree that there is reason to be disappointed. But my point is this: these are isolated cases,” Rutte said.
President Trump appeared unimpressed by the discussion, but praised Rutte’s role.
“If I had called him, he probably would have found a way to help me in my time of need,” Trump said.
The United States and Israel’s war against Iran has left thousands of Iranian civilians dead and millions more temporarily displaced.
