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U.S. President Donald Trump vented frustration in a closed-door meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte over allies’ refusal to support the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Tehran, according to Politico.
The report cited European officials, a person familiar with the matter, and others briefed on the talks.
According to the report, Trump berated allies during the White House meeting and indicated he was considering reprisals over what he saw as a lack of support in the Middle East, while also leaving those present with the impression that he wanted concrete action from allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible.
Rutte met Trump as part of a long-scheduled visit that, according to Politico, quickly became a crisis meeting after the U.S. president repeatedly threatened to quit the alliance because countries including Spain and France refused to back the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Tehran, which has since reached what the report described as a fragile ceasefire.
Politico said two European officials and a person familiar with the matter, all briefed on the talks, said Trump used the meeting as a way to air out his anger over Europe's refusal to take part in the Iran operation.
One European official described the conversation as a tirade of insults, while that official and the person familiar with the matter said Trump also signaled he was considering options for reprisals, though no details were given.
The same two people, along with a third European official briefed on the meeting, told Politico that Trump gave those present the impression that he wanted allies to take concrete action to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz quickly.
A White House official, however, said Trump made no demands of the alliance during his conversation with Rutte.
The official said that, as Trump had said publicly, NATO had been tested and failed, and added that the president had zero expectations for NATO at that point and did not ask the alliance for anything, even though, according to the official, NATO allies benefit from the Strait of Hormuz far more than the United States.
After the meeting, Trump publicly criticized NATO allies and again raised the issue of Greenland.
In posts on Truth Social, Trump said NATO was not there when it was needed and would not be there if needed again, and referenced Greenland in the same message.
In another post Thursday, he said that none of those involved, including people in the United States and NATO, understood anything unless pressure was placed upon them.
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart told Politico that Rutte and Trump had a very frank conversation, but rejected suggestions that the meeting had gone badly and described it as constructive.
Rutte also acknowledged Trump’s frustration, saying he sensed the president’s disappointment that too many allies were not with him.
According to Politico, a second European official said that despite appearances of a contentious meeting, Rutte's visit may have been well timed because it allowed Trump to release his frustration.
That official said Trump's Truth Social posts after the meeting were broad and did not include specific threats of punitive action against NATO or individual member states.
The official described that as a climbdown compared with some of Trump's other comments and said it was fortunate for the alliance that Rutte was there at that particular moment, even though the period remained volatile.
So far, NATO countries at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels have not been briefed on the meeting, according to two senior alliance diplomats cited by Politico.
The diplomats also said the alliance had not begun discussing the deployment of military equipment to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Politico reported that U.S. allies have repeatedly pledged to help restart shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, but only after the fighting fully stops.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that he had encouraged Trump during a call on Wednesday to pursue negotiations in earnest to end the war with Iran.
Merz said that, following a peace agreement, Germany would help ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, provided there was a mandate and a viable plan to do so.
He also said Germany did not want the war, which he described as a transatlantic stress test, to further strain relations between the United States and its European NATO partners.
France's top military commander, Gen. Fabien Mandon, said Wednesday that Paris was examining strictly defensive military options to assist.
He said officers from various nations had been hosted over the previous week as part of an initiative aimed at helping restore maritime navigation, and added that the planning phase was moving forward with the shared goal of promoting maritime safety in the strategic area.
Last week, a U.K.-led coalition of 41 nations supported the idea of new sanctions and further diplomatic pressure on Iran over its closure of the critical strait, Politico reported.
At the same time, the coalition made clear that it would not provide military help while the conflict was still ongoing.
Asked whether London planned to host a follow-up meeting, U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey said Thursday that he had nothing to announce regarding any next steps or the convening of meetings.
During a speech in Washington on Thursday, Rutte defended allies' response to the Iran war, even as he sought to reassure the world that the alliance was not in danger.
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