NATO Chief Mark Rutte Smiles On Calm As Trump Attacks Allies

Nato’s secretary general failed to call out Donald Trump while the US president tore into allies left, right and centre during a joint appearance this morning.

Mark Rutte is desperately trying to keep the president on side so he does not follow through on his threats to pull America out of the defence alliance.

He even praised Trump by publicly referring to him as “daddy” at last year’s Nato summit.

But at this year’s conference in Ankara, he sat in painful silence next to the US leader while Trump trashed key Nato members – and undermined the whole concept of the defensive alliance.

The president began: “I’m not happy with Nato because of what they did in Greenland.”

Trump demanded Denmark hand over its semi-autonomous territory earlier this year, but Denmark and Nato refused to bend to his demand.

The president continued: “I’m not happy with Nato because of the fact they didn’t want to help us with the number one state sponsored terror, Iran.

“They were unwilling to help us.”

Nato allies including the UK refused to join Trump’s offensive strikes on Tehran in February because they did not want to be dragged into a war with the Middle East.

While Trump did reach a memorandum of understanding with Iran which briefly halted the conflict last month, he used the Nato summit to declare it was “over” this morning.

The US also launched fresh strikes on Iran overnight in retaliation to several attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Sat next to the Nato chief, Trump then admitted he did not speak to Rutte about the lack of support from the defence alliance.

He also claimed “we didn’t need help” to fight Iran – but the UK, Germany, France and Italy and all failed his “test”.

Trump then targeted Spain in his long-winded rant, saying: “I didn’t speak to Spain. Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any more trade business with Spain anymore by the way, I’d like you to cut it off.

“Spain is a terrible partner in Nato. They don’t participate, they don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain please – including visits.”

Trump’s fury with Spain is thought to originate from the country’s refusal to let the US use its military bases to bomb Iran.

The president claimed the country treats “great man” Rutte “terribly”, and so Nato should “not carry them”.

Barely pausing to catch breathe, he then said: “We spent over a trillion dollars over the last short period – a trillion, to protect these countries from Russia. It’s nothing to do with us, we have an ocean.”

He claimed Rutte “understands that” the US has been “treated unfairly” with Nato.

“We were paying 100% of Nato and yet a lot of the countries weren’t paying anything,” he said.

All 32 member states contribute to Nato.

While Rutte did not call out Trump during their joint appearance, he later told reporters he thought the renewed strikes on Iran were “absolutely necessary” as Iran is violating their ceasefire.

Asked by Sky News if Trump was still a dedicated member of Nato despite his threats to leave, he insisted: “There is complete commitment from the United States to Nato.”

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