U.S. President Donald Trump vented his frustration with NATO during a private meeting with its secretary-general, Mark Rutte, on Wednesday as relations in the military alliance reached a crisis point over the Iran war.
“He is clearly disappointed with many NATO allies, and I can see his point,” Rutte said on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” after spending more than two hours at the White House. “This was a very frank, very open discussion, but also a discussion between two good friends.”
Rutte spoke hours after White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt quoted Trump as saying of NATO, “They were tested, and they failed,” during the Iran war.
Several NATO countries resisted supporting the U.S. military campaign against Iran by denying U.S. military planes use of their airspace or declining to send naval forces to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz for energy tankers. Reuters
