'Very frank' talks: Rutte reveals Trump's frustration with NATO over Iran war
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and US President Donald Trump (photo: Getty Images)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that US President Donald Trump is "clearly disappointed" that allies refused to join the war against Iran, The Guardian reports.
Meeting at a delicate moment
The meeting between Trump and Rutte took place at a delicate moment, less than a day after the United States and Iran agreed on a two-week ceasefire that envisions the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
"He clearly told me what he thought of what happened over the last couple of weeks. It is a nuanced picture," Rutte said, speaking on CNN.
He refused to answer whether Trump spoke about a desire to leave the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but described the conversation as "very frank, very open" between "two good friends."
Threats of withdrawal and White House reaction
Earlier on Wednesday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt acknowledged that Trump had discussed the possibility of leaving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
"I think it's something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary General Rutte," she said.
"NATO wasn't there when we needed them, and they won't be there if we need them again. Remember Greenland, that big, poorly run, piece of ice!!!" Trump posted on Truth Social after the meeting.
Earlier this week, Trump said his recent problems with the alliance "began" with their resistance to his desire to take Greenland.
Legal limitations
Trump has long criticized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. During his first term, he claimed that he had the right to withdraw the United States from the alliance on his own.
However, in 2023, Congress passed a law that prohibits any president from leaving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization without approval from parliament. This law was promoted by current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was then a senator from Florida.
Reaction in Congress
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who heads the committee on defense spending, urged Trump to be "clear and consistent." He reminded that after the September 11 attacks, allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization sent their troops to fight and die side by side with Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It was not in America's interest to "spend more time nursing grudges with allies who share our interests than deterring adversaries who threaten us," McConnell said.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration is considering a plan to redeploy United States troops from North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries that refused to support the war with Iran closer to the borders of Russia, to Poland, Romania, Lithuania, and Greece.
At the same time, former national security adviser of the United Kingdom Lord Peter Ricketts warned Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the United States has ceased to be a reliable ally and called for abandoning the idea of a special relationship.
Against the background of Trump's threats to leave the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said that Europe should move toward creating its own army and deeper defense integration.
In the Kremlin, in turn, they mocked the threats of the United States president. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev called Trump's rhetoric a "political show."
