President Donald Trump said he was “absolutely disappointed” after a White House meeting on Wednesday with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, following a US-Israeli campaign against Iran in which most NATO members did not take an active role.
Shortly after the private talks, Trump posted on Truth Social: “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN.” Rutte, the former Dutch prime minister often described as a “Trump whisperer,” told CNN the discussion had been frank and open and occurred between “two good friends.”
The meeting followed a fragile two-week ceasefire agreed between the United States and Iran the previous day. Trump has long criticized NATO as a “paper tiger” and has threatened to withdraw the United States from the 32-member alliance. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the president raised the possibility of leaving NATO ahead of the session. The Wall Street Journal reported Trump is weighing punitive actions against certain NATO members, including repositioning US troops in countries he views as unhelpful during the Iran confrontation.
When CNN anchor Jake Tapper asked whether Trump had said the US would quit NATO, Rutte sidestepped a direct reply but stressed the president’s disappointment. “Let me be clear, he is absolutely disappointed with many NATO allies, and I can see his point,” Rutte said. He also stressed that most European countries had contributed with basing, logistics and overflights, and that many had met their commitments.
Rutte pointed to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s efforts to rally 34 countries to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for shipping as an example of allied cooperation. Trump, for his part, publicly declared that NATO members “were tested, and they failed.”
Rutte acknowledged that some allies had fallen short of expectations but argued the reality was more nuanced: a large majority of European nations, he said, had fulfilled obligations that enabled US actions against Iran. “What the US did with Iran, they could do because so many European countries lived up to those commitments,” he said.
The Iran episode has intensified strains across the Atlantic that were already strained by Russia’s war in Ukraine, past disputes such as Trump’s Greenland remarks, and ongoing US pressure for higher European defense spending. A NATO spokesperson later posted on X that Rutte had emphasized the need for allies to continue strengthening a “stronger, fairer alliance.”
Edited by: Sean Sinico