Mark Rutte, the secretary general of Nato, has said Donald Trump was “clearly disappointed” that the US’s allies had refused to join its war against Iran, following a closed-door meeting in Washington on Wednesday. Speaking to CNN after his private meeting with the US president, Rutte declined to say directly whether Trump raised his threat to withdraw from the military alliance over the Iran war, but described the exchange as a “very frank, very open” discussion between “two good friends”.
The meeting between Trump and Rutte came at a delicate moment, less than a day after the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire deal that includes opening the Strait of Hormuz. The fragile agreement was struck after Trump threatened to target Iran’s civilian infrastructure, warning that a “whole civilization will die” if Tehran failed to allow safe passage through the strait by a Tuesday evening deadline imposed by the president.
Before the meeting, Trump had escalated his criticism of the 77-year-old alliance, calling it a “paper tiger” and suggesting the US may consider leaving after Nato member countries ignored his call for military assistance to help reopen the critical waterway – the closure of which has sent global oil prices soaring. “He clearly told me what he thought of what happened over the last couple of weeks,” Rutte said in a CNN interview, declining to answer specific questions about whether Trump expressed a desire to leave Nato. “It is a nuanced picture.”
In a post on Truth Social after the meeting, Trump wrote: “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!” Trump had said earlier this week that his latest frustrations with the alliance “began” with their opposition to his desired takeover of Greenland. Earlier on Wednesday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, acknowledged that Trump had discussed leaving Nato.
Trump has been a longtime critic of Nato, and in his first term had suggested he had the authority on his own to leave the alliance. Congress, however, passed a law in 2023 that prevents any US president from pulling out of Nato without its approval. It is unclear if the Trump administration would challenge the law barring a president from pulling out of Nato. When the law passed, it was championed by Trump’s current secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who at the time was a senator from Florida.
