President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that US forces would strike Iran “hard” in the coming night, after earlier declaring Washington’s ceasefire with Iran over at a NATO summit in Ankara.”We’re gonna hit ’em hard tonight,” he said before holding talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, saying: “They violate the agreement every day.”Trump’s remark comes after the United States launched strikes against Iranian sites on Tuesday night, to which Tehran responded by announcing it had targeted US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Trump told the NATO summit that the United States wanted to “remain” with the alliance, a source attending the closed-door session said, despite his earlier anger at European allies over the Iran war.

Trump told the meeting, “We want to remain with you,” the source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

NATO leaders, including the United States, reaffirmed their “ironclad commitment” to the mutual assistance clause enshrined in Article 5 of the military alliance’s treaty, according to the final declaration of their Ankara summit.

“We, the heads of state and government of the North Atlantic Alliance, have gathered in Ankara to reaffirm our ironclad commitment to our collective defense under Article 5… An attack on one is an attack on all,” it said.

Earlier, the US president expressed his dissatisfaction with NATO during his meeting with the alliance’s Secretary General, Mark Rutte, at the opening of the NATO summit in Ankara. He criticized what he described as the unwillingness of some allies to support Washington in confronting Iran, in addition to disagreements related to Greenland.

Trump said he was “very upset with NATO,” adding that he was dissatisfied with the alliance’s performance due to what he considered its lack of support for the United States in confronting “the number one state sponsor of terrorism,” referring to Iran.

Trump also escalated his criticism of Spain, saying that the United States did not wish to continue trade relations with it, accusing Madrid of failing to meet its defense spending commitments within the alliance. He said that “Spain is a lost cause,” while Rutte defended Madrid, pointing to the steps it had taken to increase its military spending.

In a related development, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said exchanges of fire between the United States and Iran “further complicate already fraught talks to end the war.”

“Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait are unacceptable,” she said on X, adding EU foreign ministers would discuss with their Gulf counterparts Monday how to “preserve freedom of navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea. (AFP/EIR)