NATO allies may be heading into their next summit with a fresh rebuke from Washington hanging over the room. In an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday, President Trump said he felt "let down" by alliance members that didn't back the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran that was launched on Feb. 28. Trump claimed Iran was "demolished" within a week and said that the US didn't need help but that "it would have been nice" if allies had offered it. Several European governments had already questioned the rationale for the war, per France 24, which Trump began without consulting NATO.
Rutte pushed back gently, noting that thousands of US flights for the war departed from European bases. Speaking to reporters later, he insisted Trump remains firmly committed to NATO and said the US certainly would defend Europe if attacked. The exchange comes less than two weeks before a 32-nation summit in Ankara and days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth scolded NATO nations in Brussels.
During the meeting, Rutte gave a presentation using three boards on easels touting US-NATO ties. When he finished, however, Trump spent long stretches not talking about NATO but instead boasting about his effort to beautify and improve Washington, per the AP. Trump suggested that, two years ago, before he deployed the National Guard, the NATO chief might have "had a good chance of being mugged, although you're a very big guy."
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