US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized America’s NATO allies over a lack of support in the Iran war, “expressed his frustration” at NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during the former Dutch prime minister’s visit to the White House, Politico reported, citing officials.Root met Trump behind closed doors on Wednesday as part of a long-scheduled visit. Officials described the meeting as a “life-support mission” after the US president repeatedly threatened to pull out on member states such as Spain and France over their refusal to support the US-Israeli conflict with Tehran, which is now under a fragile 14-day ceasefire.According to two European officials and a person familiar with the matter, Trump used the meeting as a “venting session” to express his frustration over Europe’s reluctance to join Washington’s Operation Epic Fury, which began with attacks on the Islamic Republic on February 28 and sparked the current Middle East conflict.
“It turned out to be nonsense. The conversation was nothing but insults. Trump clearly threatened to do anything,” one of the people told Politico.The three sources said the US president gave attendees the impression he wanted “concrete action” from allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible.Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation, a move with major global ramifications as about 20% of the world’s crude oil supply passes through the vital shipping lane.Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran to lift the blockade, and threatened that failure to do so would send Iran “back to the Stone Age” by bombing — comments that drew widespread international condemnation.
‘No demands were made’: White House
However, according to a White House spokesperson, the President made “no demands” for the alliance during his talks with the Secretary General.“At this moment they have no expectations from NATO and they did not ask them for anything, although it is true that they benefit much more from the Strait of Hormuz than the United States,” the spokesperson told the website.NATO spokeswoman Alison Hart described the meeting as “a very frank conversation”, but shrugged off suggestions that it went poorly and called it “constructive”.For his part, Rutte said he could understand Trump’s “disappointment”. “I sensed his frustration that he felt a lack of support from a lot of his colleagues,” he said at an event on Thursday.
a silver lining’
In a glimmer of hope, a second European official described Rutte’s visit as “well-timed” and said it gave Trump an opportunity to “provoke”. Officials noted that the Republicans’ subsequent posts on Truth Social were broad and fell short of issuing specific threats against NATO as a whole or individual member states.The source said, “This is a decline from some of his previous comments. It is still a volatile moment, but it is fortunate for the coalition that he was there at this particular time.”Last week, a Britain-led coalition of 41 countries backed fresh sanctions and increased diplomatic pressure on Tehran over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, while making it clear they would not provide military assistance as long as the conflict continues.Countries such as Spain and Italy have refused US warplanes access to their airspace, while Britain initially refused permission to use UK airbases before reversing its decision.
