Tehran accused NATO on Thursday of “complicity” in the US-Israeli war against Iran, while US President Donald Trump criticized NATO allies for not supporting the war.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei’s remarks came after NATO boss Mark Rutte told Fox News that “five hundred US planes took off from US bases in Italy to support Epic Fury,” in response to Trump’s criticism of allies.
Rutte also told Fox News that Romania “cut down on commercial air flights and airplanes because they had to use the airports for the tanker facilities” during the Iran war.
“This is a clear and damning admission of NATO’s active complicity in an unlawful war of aggression against a sovereign UN Member State,” Baqaei wrote on X.
“Italy and Romania are explicitly named by NATO’s SG to have participated in the aggression against Iran. They, along with every other European country that has assisted the American-Israeli aggression against Iran, must explain to their own people and to the world why they chose to collude in this blatant act of aggression and in the commission of mass atrocities against the Iranian people,” he added.
Italy was quick to distance itself from Rutte’s words, which the Defense Ministry said gave “a completely misleading message by confusing the type of flights that were authorized”.
It said Italy had allowed only “technical and logistical” US flights during Epic Fury under existing agreements with the United States.
Trump told Rutte he was “let down” by members of the transatlantic alliance who did not back his war against Iran.
“We were let down. We didn’t need help on this at all. We demolished (Iran) literally in the first week but it would have been nice if they would have said, ‘We’d like to help,'” Trump said during a meeting with Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House.
Rutte defended the conduct of NATO countries, saying there were 4-5,000 “US planes taking off from bases in Europe” during the war.
The NATO chief then told journalists after the meeting that Trump is “completely committed to the NATO alliance,” and said Washington would “absolutely” protect Europe in case of attack.
Trump’s criticism of NATO comes just two weeks before leaders from the 32 member nations are set to meet for a July 7-8 summit in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
The United States is “immediately deploying” rescuers and aid to Venezuela after the country was hit by two massive earthquakes that killed at least 32 people, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, during a visit to Kuwait City, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would be on the same page as Gulf states as it wrangles with Iran over a permanent settlement to the conflict.
“We’re going to be completely aligned with our partners in the Gulf,” he said, adding that the United States would “engage them on conversations about every decision that’s made with regards to this negotiation.”
Rubio is due to attend a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Bahrain on Thursday after sitting down with the leaders of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday.
Earlier, Rubio discussed the US-Iran deal with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed, and renewed Washington’s commitment to the country’s security on the first leg of a tour of the Gulf. (AFP)
