US President Donald Trump made a scattergun attack on European countries and Iran as the NATO annual summit opened in Turkey.
While NATO chief Mark Rutte sat smirking at his side, Trump called the Spanish ‘bad people’ and demanded that all contact and all trade between the US and Spain be brought to a halt.
In an earlier outburst to Rutte he declared the ceasefire with Iran over, and called the Iranian leadership ‘scum’. Trump went on to describe Iran’s leaders as ‘sick’ calling them ‘vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it.’
The US launched strikes against Iran on 80 targets around the Strait of Hormuz and revoked its sanctions waver on Iranian oil the day before the summit began. Trump complained NATO allies had failed to assist the US in their war on Iran. Britain was singled out for initially failing to allow the use of its bases, regardless that Starmer agreed to their use within two weeks of the war starting.
Rutte, who calls Trump ‘daddy’, went into full subservience mode by uncritically backing Trump’s latest attacks on Iran, saying ‘I think it is totally crucial that the US forcefully reacts’.
None of this stopped Trump castigating European countries and reiterating his demand to take control of Greenland. His ire at NATO defence spending was repeated regardless of the planned massive hike in military spending, with Spain being the focus of Trump’s broadside, having stood firm against the raised spending target of 3.5%. Trump is now calling for the target to be increased to 5% of GDP.
Further disputes are expected when Trump meets President Zelensky of Ukraine. European NATO powers are concerned more for a Ukrainian victory in the meat-grinder conflict with Russia than they do about Trump’s adventure with Iran. They have just guaranteed two annual payments of 70 billion euros to keep Ukraine fighting.
Pro-rearmament hawk, Chancellor Merz of Germany, told the press: ‘Last year in The Hague, we decided that we would significantly step up our defence efforts. And we have delivered. In most member states of the European Union and in NATO, we have substantially improved our defence efforts. We will talk about that today. And we will make NATO more European so that it can remain transatlantic’.
Italy’s far right prime minister Georgia Meloni backed up that message in a private meeting with President Zelensky.
The NATO meeting in Ankara, Turkey, was also the site of arms deals worth tens of billions of euros aimed at cementing Turkey into the European wide rearmament programme and driving home the message that the European powers are heeding US calls to spend more to defend Europe even as President Donald Trump said he felt let down.
But protestors on the streets, like many ordinary citizens across Europe, are deeply skeptical about their rulers’ preparations for military conflict on their continent. Europe’s political leadership have said the continent must prioritise arms spending over public services, with ordinary people being told to prepare for welfare cuts and conscription. Investment is being directed away from civilian needs, including transport, housing, health and climate, towards military demands.
Several hundred demonstrators were at an anti-NATO protest in Istanbul on Wednesday. The protesters chanted anti-US and anti-NATO slogans, even as their leaders were hoping to project unity after another bruising year, in which the Iran war exposed cracks in the alliance that has underpinned Western security since the end of World War Two.