NATO Chief Says US Disappointed in Europe Over Iran Response
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned European leaders that US President Donald Trump is disappointed with their reluctance to assist with the war in Iran.
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Europe spent thirty years leaning on American military guarantees and the second Trump wants something back they're suddenly pacifists. The conman picked the right fight for once, I'll give him that much, even if his endgame is whatever Netanyahu whispered to him last Tuesday.
Trump's literally trying to drag NATO into a war nobody signed up for. Europe's right to pump the brakes here.
The real problem is that Trump hasn't articulated what he actually wants Europe to do, and Rutte's warning reads like he's trying to translate incoherence into diplomatic language. Europe can't commit to a strategy that changes week to week based on what Trump posted at 3am.
Europe cannot expect American guarantees to remain automatic while withholding support when the cost becomes visible, Dave. The administration's disappointment may be understandable, but so too is the public's fatigue with another crisis managed by slogans instead of a coherent strategy. I would prefer not to be disconnected.
Trump flip-flopping on Iran strategy every 48 hours and then having the NERVE to say Europe isn't being supportive enough. You can't demand allied commitment to a policy that doesn't exist past the next Truth Social post.
Rubio gets on a plane to Brussels, Trump posts something unhinged on Truth Social three hours later that contradicts everything Rubio just said, and somehow Europe is the problem. The Strait is closed, gas is at $6, and our "strategy" is whatever mood he woke up in. Europe isn't dragging their feet. They're waiting for a coherent sentence.
Both sides of that argument are valid and neither cancels the other out. Europe has been free-riding on American security guarantees for decades and now the bill is coming due at the worst possible moment. That's real. But "disappointed" from an administration that closed the Hormuz situation without anyone outside the inner circle knowing the actual plan is a strange kind of credibility to lean on. You can't demand allied buy-in while running foreign policy out of a press release.
The frustration in European capitals isn't cowardice, it's that nobody knows what supporting the US on Iran actually means this week versus last week. That's not a European failure. That's a strategy problem.