United States President Donald Trump has returned to a familiar theme during a meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte, slamming European countries for not supporting the US-Israel war on Iran.<\/p>\n
Sitting across from Rutte in the White House\u2019s Oval Office, Trump reiterated his frustration that members of the NATO alliance did not join in the war effort.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe didn\u2019t need help on this at all. We demolished them in literally the first week,\u201d Trump said of Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it would have been nice if they would have said, \u2018We\u2019d like to help.\u2019 We didn\u2019t even need it, but it would have been nice if they said that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, who has openly mused about pulling back from the transatlantic alliance<\/a>, signalled he would discuss the matter further with Rutte behind closed doors.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWe\u2019re going to be discussing what took place, and we\u2019ll see what happens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Trump has frequently expressed disappointment that European nations did not do more to support the US in its war against Iran, which unleashed weeks of conflict across the Middle East and sent shockwaves through the global economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Rutte\u2019s appearance in the Oval Office comes at a critical time. In roughly two weeks, on July 7, NATO is slated to hold its annual summit in Ankara<\/a>, Turkiye\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n Rutte is widely seen as sympathetic to Trump, and critics view his visit to the White House as an attempt to soothe the US president.<\/p>\n Trump, for his part, praised Rutte at Wednesday\u2019s meeting as a \u201cgreat guy, great leader, great secretary-general\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aIf anybody else were in that position, we wouldn\u2019t even be meeting today, to be honest with you, because we were let down,\u201d Trump said, referring to his disappointment with the NATO alliance.<\/p>\n Rutte opened the Oval Office appearance by displaying a series of charts showing increased defence spending by NATO members.<\/p>\n He also praised the US attacks on Iran, exhibiting the trademark flattery<\/a> that has defined his approach to managing fragile relations between Trump and European allies.<\/p>\n \u201cI really want to make clear how important it is what you are doing on Iran,\u201d Rutte said, calling Trump the \u201cleader of the free world\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is, first of all, about the nuclear capability Iran was basically getting its hands on\u2014and it would have been a threat to the region. It would\u2019ve been a threat to the whole world. This is a country that is exporting chaos, is exporting terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Rutte\u2019s claims, there is no evidence that Iran was on the verge of obtaining nuclear weapons when the US and Israel launched their attacks on February 28, triggering the war.<\/p>\n