NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that during the conversation with him, US President Donald Trump expressed disappointment with the actions of some of Washington's NATO allies in the context of the war with Iran and expressed understanding for the American leader's dissatisfaction.
He expressed this position in an interview with CNN after a meeting with US President Donald Trump.
„Trump is obviously disappointed with many NATO allies and I can understand that. At the same time, I was able to point out that most European countries were helpful in terms of bases, logistics and flights, ensuring that they respected their commitments,” Rutte said in an interview with CNN.
Rutte admitted that some NATO countries had indeed failed the test imposed by the United States.
“Some of them, yes. But most European countries have done what they promised in such cases, and we discussed that today,” Rutte said, answering a question about whether he agreed with the US president’s assessment.
As White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said earlier, the US leader believes that the US-Israeli war against Iran was a test for NATO that failed.
Rutte did not directly answer a question about the possibility of the US “punishing” individual NATO countries for their insufficient support for the US military operation against Iran.
On April 8, The Wall Street Journal reported that the US administration was considering withdrawing troops from several European countries as punishment for their lack of support for Washington's war against Iran. "He explained to me what he thought about what had been happening over the last few weeks," Rutte said when asked to comment on the newspaper's article.
The head of the North Atlantic Alliance said his conversation with the White House chief "was honest and open," adding that it was "a discussion between two good friends."
After the meeting, Trump recalled the alliance's disagreement over ownership of Greenland.
"NATO didn't come to our aid when we needed it, and it won't come to our aid if we need it again. Don't forget Greenland - that big, poorly managed piece of ice“, the White House host wrote on Truth Social.
On April 6, he said that the bitter disagreements within NATO began with Greenland.