{"id":593678,"date":"2026-04-10T00:59:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T00:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/593678\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T00:59:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T00:59:16","slug":"nato-chief-says-he-understands-trumps-disappointment-with-allies-on-iran-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/593678\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO chief says he understands Trump\u2019s \u2018disappointment\u2019 with allies on Iran – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte<\/a> said Thursday he understands U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> \u201cdisappointment\u201d in the alliance for not immediately helping him with his war with Iran, but also backed Trump\u2019s decision to not inform allies ahead of time.<\/p>\n

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Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington a day after meeting with Trump privately to discuss the president\u2019s criticisms<\/a>, Rutte expressed support for U.S. military actions in Iran while acknowledging Trump\u2019s frustration with the alliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it came time to provide the logistical and other support the United States needed in Iran, some allies were a bit slow, to say the least,\u201d Rutte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fairness, there were also a bit surprised. To maintain the element of surprise for the initial strikes, President Trump opted not to inform allies ahead of time, and I understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He further explained later: \u201cThere was not a lot of prior consultation. So then they had to scramble to understand what was happening and then to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney and other NATO leaders have suggested they did not join the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran because they were not consulted ahead of time.<\/a><\/p>\n

Several European allies have since provided logistical support for U.S. military assets in the Middle East, and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is leading international efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

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Rutte said this support is evidence of a \u201cmindset shift\u201d he said is necessary to accompany Europe\u2019s move away from \u201cunhealthy codependence\u201d on American security \u201cto a transatlantic alliance grounded in true partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Rutte appeared to sympathize with Trump\u2019s criticisms, he did\u00a0push back on previous comments by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who met separately with Rutte on Wednesday, that NATO cannot be \u201ca one-way street.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was not a one-way alliance when U.S., European and Canadian troops fought and sacrificed shoulder-to-shoulder in Afghanistan,\u201d Rutte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I am heartened by the knowledge that every day as I speak, that U.S., European and Canadian troops continue to train and deploy in support of our shared security. I am confident that a stronger Europe and a stronger NATO will not take U.S. leadership for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the meeting Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a statement she said was from Trump, who said the alliance had been \u201ctested and they failed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s quite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks, and it\u2019s the American people who have been funding their defence,\u201d Leavitt added.<\/p>\n

After the meeting, Trump issued an all-caps statement on social media suggesting he remained aggrieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cNATO WASN\u2019T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON\u2019T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,\u201d Trump said in his post. \u201cREMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rutte said his meeting with Trump on Tuesday was \u201cvery frank and open,\u201d and that he \u201csensed his disappointment about the fact that he felt that too many allies were not with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI explained to him yesterday, I said, \u2018Hey, Mr. President, clearly the overwhelming majority of Europeans have done what the U.S. asked of them and what was previously agreed in these circumstances,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yes, sometimes it takes a bit of time, but hey, guess what? We have coalitions in Europe. We have sometimes the political (situation) to take care of, sometimes it takes a couple of days, but then we pull together. And almost all of Europe did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutte later added: \u201cIt was a good conversation. It was open and candid, and I clearly felt his disappointment, which again, to a certain extent, I understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NATO chief repeatedly refused to directly answer questions from the event moderator and the crowd about whether he felt Trump might follow through with his threats to pull the U.S. out of the alliance.<\/a><\/p>\n

He instead pointed to increased defence spending and the move by European allies to take the lead on their own security, which he said will allow the U.S. to better balance its European defence commitments with the growing importance of the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCanada meets 2% defence target for 1st time amid shifting NATO priorities\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Every NATO member, including Canada, has finally met the alliance\u2019s old target of spending at least two per cent of GDP on defence, NATO confirmed earlier this month. NATO agreed last year to boost that target to five per cent by 2035, including 3.5 per cent on \u201ccore\u201d military spending.<\/p>\n

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This growing strength and commitment, Rutte claimed, ran counter to fears about the survival of the alliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy, then, does everyone in this room have a knot in their stomach about the future of the transatlantic alliance?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhy, when we turn on our televisions or are scrolling our phones, do we see eager early drafts of NATO\u2019s obituary?<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me be clear: this alliance is not whistling past the graveyard, as you would say in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tRutte explains calling Trump ‘daddy’\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Near the end of the event, Rutte was asked if he still calls Trump \u201cdaddy,\u201d a claim that Trump himself has grown fond of repeating<\/a> after headline-making remarks from Rutte last year.<\/p>\n

Rutte laughed and tried to brush the term off as a misunderstanding that stemmed from last summer\u2019s brief war between Israel and Iran, when Trump angrily said both countries \u201cdon\u2019t know what the [f\u2014] they\u2019re doing\u201d<\/a> amid reports of ceasefire violations.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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During the NATO Summit at the Hague a day after that comment, Trump again berated Israel and Iran and compared them to fighting schoolchildren while speaking alongside Rutte. The NATO chief then laughed and said, \u201cAnd then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get (them to) stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a language problem,\u201d Rutte said Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Dutch, you would say, the translation of \u2018your father\u2019 is \u2018daddy.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Sometimes daddy has to get angry.\u2019 So I was not calling him my daddy, but of course \u2018daddy\u2019 also has a special connotation. And now I have to live with this the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to say both he and Trump treat the comment in a joking way \u201cbetween friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI own it, and the president owns it because he brought out T-shirts, he made a movie, \u2018Daddy\u2019s Home,\u2019 and he returned to the United States. This was so funny, and this is why I like him so much,\u201d Rutte said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday he understands U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cdisappointment\u201d in the alliance for not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,1376,43,38970,49364,44,41,39,42,40,2845,3275],"class_list":{"0":"post-593678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-mark-rutte","12":"tag-nato","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories","18":"tag-u-s-news","19":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}