Iran dispute weighs on NATO ahead of summit

Trump wants concessions

Iran dispute weighs on NATO ahead of summit

According to US Secretary of State Rubio, the transatlantic dispute over the Iran war will be a topic at the NATO summit in July. Can President Trump be appeased there?

The USA is putting massive pressure on its European allies six weeks before the NATO summit in Turkey. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear on the sidelines of a preparatory meeting in Sweden that President Donald Trump must be convinced that the defense alliance still has added value for the United States. “As with any alliance, it must be clear that it benefits everyone involved,” he emphasized.

Rubio cited the transatlantic dispute over the Iran war as one reason for Trump’s doubts. The president’s disappointment with some of NATO’s allies and their response to operations in the Middle East is well documented, he said at the foreign ministers’ meeting in Helsingborg. This is something that needs to be discussed at the level of heads of state and government.

Rubio criticized the refusal of countries like Spain to allow the use of bases for the war against Iran. He explained that membership in an alliance must have value for the USA and that a central value at NATO is the bases in Europe. These enabled the US to exercise military power in the event of a crisis in the Middle East or elsewhere. If the use of bases is refused, the question arises as to why one is in NATO, explained Rubio.

Like NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte before him, Rubio made it clear that Trump’s decision to send an additional 5,000 US soldiers to Poland should not be understood as a change of course in plans to reduce commitment to Europe’s conventional defense. The United States has global obligations that it must meet with regard to its troop deployment, he explained. This forces the USA to constantly reassess where it is stationing troops.

According to information from the German Press Agency, the USA has already fundamentally decided to keep fewer armed forces on standby under NATO command for deterrence and defense in the future. It is therefore expected that the European allies and Canada will then increase their share in the so-called NATO Force Model. This determines which member states have how many forces available and how quickly they must be available.

Rutte said on the subject: “This is nothing new. Everyone knew this was happening.” The background is that the USA cannot be everywhere at the same time. Accordingly, these developments have nothing to do with the withdrawal of around 5,000 US soldiers from Germany, which Trump announced after critical statements by Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU).