NATO chief Rutte backs Trump on Iran, praises him for ‘taking responsibility’ for the world

Washington, June 25 (IANS) NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has mounted a strong public defence of President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran, saying the US action had helped prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon while insisting the American leader remained fully committed to the transatlantic alliance.

Appearing alongside Trump at the White House on Wednesday (local time) before next month’s NATO summit in Ankara, Rutte repeatedly praised the President’s leadership on Iran even as the two leaders acknowledged differences over the level of support provided by some European allies during the conflict.

“I really want to make clear how important it is, what you are doing on Iran,” Rutte said.

He described Iran as “a country which is exporting chaos” and “exporting terrorism”, adding that it “was very near to getting their hands on the nuclear capability.”

“Iran having its hands on the nuclear capability… would be a danger to the whole world, particularly the region, Israel, and to Europe, but also the rest of the world,” he said.

Rutte said the military action had been driven by global security concerns rather than regional politics.

“This is about security, about safety,” he said. “This is the leader of the free world taking responsibility beyond the shores of the United States, for the rest of the world.”

Trump, however, renewed his criticism of several European allies, saying they had failed to support Washington during the conflict.

“We were let down,” Trump said. “We didn’t need help on this at all. We demolished them in literally the first week, but it would have been nice if they would have said, ‘We’d like to help.'”

Rutte acknowledged there had been “a reason for disappointment” but argued those were “isolated cases”. He said European countries had nevertheless enabled US operations through bilateral agreements.

“I would argue, it would have been very difficult to do Iran without having Europe as a power projection platform for the United States,” he said, noting that between “4,000 and 5,000 US planes” had taken off from European air bases during the campaign.

Later, speaking to reporters outside the West Wing, Rutte sought to reinforce that message and dismissed suggestions that Trump’s commitment to NATO had weakened.

“He is completely committed to the NATO alliance,” Rutte said.

He added that Trump had also been “absolutely clear” in expecting allies to spend more on defence, describing last year’s agreement to raise defence and security spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035 as one of the President’s biggest foreign policy achievements.

Rutte said European allies and Canada had increased defence spending by almost 20 per cent in the past year, arguing that the alliance was now delivering on the commitments made at last year’s summit.

He also highlighted the economic benefits for the United States, saying European purchases from American defence manufacturers and investments by European companies were supporting nearly 200,000 US jobs.

The NATO Secretary General also reaffirmed continued support for Ukraine, saying Kyiv was “doing so much better over the last five, six months than before”, while crediting continued US assistance for helping strengthen Ukraine’s position.

The NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8 is expected to focus on implementing the alliance’s new defence spending commitments, expanding defence industrial production and sustaining support for Ukraine. The alliance has also maintained that Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon, a position repeatedly emphasised by Rutte during his Washington visit.

–IANS

lkj/sd/