FILE – President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House, October 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized America’s NATO allies for their lack of support in the Iran war, “expressed his frustration” with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during the former Dutch prime minister’s visit to the White House, Politico reported, citing officials.Rutte met with Trump behind closed doors as part of a long-scheduled visit on Wednesday. The meeting quickly turned into what officials described as a “life support mission” after the US president repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the intergovernmental military coalition over the refusal of member states such as Spain and France to support the US-Israeli conflict with Tehran, which is now under a fragile 14-day ceasefire.According to European officials and a person familiar with the matter, Trump used the meeting as a “venting session” to express his frustration with Europe’s reluctance to join Washington’s Operation Epic Rage, which began with strikes on the Islamic Republic on February 28 and sparked the current conflict in the Middle East.
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“It went well,” one person told Politico. “The conversation was nothing but a series of insults. Trump seemed to threaten to do anything.”The three sources added that the US President gave those present the impression that he wanted “concrete measures” from the allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible.Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in response, a move that has major global implications as nearly 20% of the world’s crude oil supplies pass through the vital shipping lane.
Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran against lifting the blockade, threatening that failure to do so would bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age” — comments that have drawn widespread international condemnation.
‘No demands made’: White House
However, according to a White House spokesperson, the president “did not make any demands” for the coalition during his conversation with the Secretary-General.The spokesman told the website: “He has no expectations from NATO at this stage and has not asked them for anything, even though they benefit from the Strait of Hormuz much more than the United States.”NATO spokeswoman Alison Hart described the meeting as a “very frank conversation” but pushed back on suggestions that it went poorly as “constructive”.For his part, Rutte said he was “disappointed” by Trump. “I was disappointed in what he felt was the lack of support from so many allies,” he said at an event on Thursday.
“silver lining”
On the bright side, a second European official described Rutte’s visit as “timely,” saying it gave Trump a chance to “let off steam.”
The officials noted that Republicans’ subsequent posts on Truth Social were broad and stopped short of issuing specific threats against NATO as a whole or individual member states.The source added, “This is a decline compared to some of his previous comments. It is still a volatile moment, but the coalition is fortunate that he was there at this particular time.”Last week, a UK-led coalition of 41 countries backed new sanctions and increased diplomatic pressure on Tehran over its closure of the Strait of Hormuz, while making clear they would not provide military support as long as the conflict continued.Countries such as Spain and Italy have denied US warplanes access to their airspace, while Britain initially refused permission to use a British air base before later reversing its decision.
