NATO Chief Says Allies 'a Bit Slow' to Help With Iran

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte declined to say Thursday whether President Trump had repeated his threat to quit the military organization, saying only that the US leader was disappointed in some allies for being too slow to help with the Iran war. Rutte's remarks came a day after he weathered a fresh ordeal with Trump, following months of tensions over Trump's threats to seize Greenland. The US-Israel war on Iran does not involve the world's biggest military alliance and NATO allies were not consulted about it, but Trump has criticized fellow treaty members for their lack of support, the AP reports.

• Since launching the war, Trump has derided US allies as "cowards," slammed NATO as "a paper tiger," and compared UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Neville Chamberlain, who is probably best remembered for a policy of appeasement toward Nazi Germany.

• In recent days, Trump has suggested that the US might leave the alliance. Trump already threatened to walk out in 2018 during his first term. His complaint now is that some allies ignored his call to help as Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade waterway. After talks with Rutte on Wednesday, the alliance's most powerful leader took to Truth Social to show his annoyance. "NATO WASN'T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON'T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN," Trump posted. He is reportedly considering pulling US troops from some NATO countries.
• Asked repeatedly since then whether Trump intends to take America out of NATO, Rutte has said little, but he has not denied that such a threat was made. "I sensed his disappointment about the fact that he felt that too many allies were not with him," was all Rutte would say on Thursday.

• In a speech Thursday on America's role in NATO, Rutte said "allow me here to applaud President Trump for his bold leadership and vision." Rutte chided some allies for being "a bit slow, to say the least," to help with Iran.
• European diplomats tell Reuters that Rutte has informed some NATO members that Trump wants a concrete commitment within days for help securing the Strait of Hormuz. The UK is leading an effort outside the alliance to make the trade route safe for shipping once the ceasefire is working. "We know the urgency on the US side, and we know that Rutte is trying to position himself in a way that he is helpful in that conversation," one diplomat says. "We are willing to make the right noises and even the right actions down the line. But ultimately the problem is not to please the US but to have the right conditions in place."
• The striking thing about the war on Iran is that NATO has no role to play there, the AP reports. As a defensive alliance, it has protected ally Turkey when Iranian missiles were fired in retaliation at its territory, but the war was launched by a NATO member, not at one.
• Trump's ire seems most directed at Spain and France, rather than NATO itself. Spain has closed its airspace to US planes involved in the Iran war and has refused US. forces the use of jointly operated military bases. After the two-week ceasefire was announced, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez posted on X that his government "will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket." France has been critical, insisting that the war was launched without respecting international law and that Paris was never consulted about it