On Wednesday, President Donald Trump criticized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for not stepping in during the conflict in Iran. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte commended the president for negotiating a temporary two-week ceasefire.
Trump had urged NATO allies to dispatch warships to help reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz, a vital corridor for about 20% of the global oil trade. However, none of the alliance’s members responded by deploying their naval forces.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president expressed his frustration, stating, “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,” shortly after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt conveyed his sentiment that NATO had been “tested and failed.”
Adding to his comments, Trump made a cryptic reference to Greenland, a territory he has shown interest in acquiring, saying, “REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE.”
These remarks followed a planned discussion with Rutte, where Trump was anticipated to raise the prospect of the United States withdrawing from NATO.
The president’s post came after a scheduled meeting with Rutte, in which he was expected to bring up the possibility of the US leaving the treaty organization.
Yet Rutte took on a conciliatory tone as he praised the president for the ceasefire agreement in Iran.
The NATO Secretary General appeared on CNN Wednesday to discuss the temporary truce between the US, Iran and Israel when anchor Jake Tapper asked if he believed the world is safer today than before the war started at the end of February.
‘Absolutely,’ Rutte replied. ‘This is thanks to President Trump’s leadership.’
President Donald Trump hit out at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Wednesday after member nations refused to send warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz during the war in Iran
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had earlier said Trump would discuss leaving the treaty organization with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. The two are pictured in October
Trump declared on his Truth Social page that ‘NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM’ as he made a thinly-veiled threat about Greenland, a territory he has repeatedly sought to take over
He then went on to explain that degrading Iran’s nuclear capabilities is ‘really important for yours and my safety here in the US, in Europe and in the Middle East.’
A spokesperson for NATO has since told the Daily Mail that Rutte and Trump ‘had a frank discussion on a range of issues related to our shared security, including in the context of Iran.
‘The Secretary General underscored the importance of Allies continuing to step up to deliver a stronger, fairer Alliance.”
But Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday she thought it was ‘quite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks, when it’s the American people who have been funding their defense.’
‘Withdrawing from NATO… is something that the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with [Rutte] and perhaps you’ll hear directly from the president following that meeting,’ she said earlier in the day.
Leavitt then went on to dispel claims from Iran that the Strait of Hormuz had been closed over Israeli attacks on the regime’s proxy terror groups in Lebanon.
‘We have seen an uptick of traffic in the strait today,’ Leavitt said, noting that there was a difference between what Iran said publicly versus privately.
Two tankers were allowed through the strait this morning as the two-week ceasefire commenced, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported, though it later said passage had been suspended ‘simultaneous with Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.’
Leavitt noted that ‘Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire.’
Rutte heaped praise on President Donald Trump for agreeing to a ceasefire in Iran
He met with Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on Wednesday before meeting with Trump
At the same time, Iran threatened to destroy oil tankers if they try to travel through the Strait without permission, as the regime has imposed a toll of up to $2 million per vessel.
Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, a critical artery routing crude from the Gulf to the Red Sea, came under drone attack at 1pm local time, the FT reported.
Kuwait’s air defenses intercepted 28 drones in sustained attacks targeting oil facilities, power plants and water desalination infrastructure from 8am Wednesday, the country’s army said, adding that strikes were still ongoing.
There were also reports of explosions rocking Tehran, which Leavitt declined to comment on, pending information from Trump’s national security team.
American and Iranian authorities are now set to meet in Islamabad on Saturday to iron out a more permanent end to the war.
As part of the deal, Iran publicly released what it claimed was a ten-point peace plan, demanding the US accept Tehran’s continued control over the Strait, recognize its right to uranium enrichment, lift all sanctions, pay compensation and withdraw all troops from the region.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, appearing at a briefing earlier on Wednesday, relayed that the President had said that NATO ‘were tested and they failed’
Trump is now facing a furious backlash from his most fervent supporters over the ceasefire and ten-point peace plan, amid fears it concedes too much to Tehran, with even the White House forced to clarify his claims about the terms of the deal.
The president has previously described Iran’s plan as ‘a workable basis on which to negotiate,’ only for a White House official to say the points in the released plan did not match what Trump had in mind.
The president then seemed to contradict his own team, saying most points had ‘been fully negotiated’ while leaving the door open to resuming strikes if the deal fell apart.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham demanded JD Vance appear before Congress to explain the terms of the agreement after the dovish Vice President spearheaded 11th-hour peace talks mediated by Pakistan.
‘The supposed negotiating document, in my view, has some troubling aspects, but time will tell,’ Graham posted on X.
‘I look forward to the architects of this proposal, the Vice President and others, coming forward to Congress and explaining how a negotiated deal meets our national security objectives in Iran.’
