April 8 (UPI) -- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was set to kick off a visit to Washington on Wednesday with a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump after European allies' lack of support for the Iran war prompted fresh threats to pull the United States out of the defensive alliance.
Rutte was expected to use the meeting, at which U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will also be present, to try to smooth over trans-Atlantic tensions stoked by the refusal of several NATO countries to let U.S. military planes to use their airspace or bases.
Allies also declined to take part in military action to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, effectively blockaded by Iran since the start of the war on Feb. 28, and provide naval vessels to escort oil and gas tankers through the key sea lane.
Trump's frustration with what he views as a NATO relationship that is unfairly weighted in European allies' favor boiled over last week after the spat over the strait, with him questioning the point of U.S. membership and saying he would rethink how much the United States contributes to the alliance going forward.
Rubio has also adopted an increasingly hawkish stance calling it a "one-way street" where the United States was always there for other NATO members but was told 'no' when it needed to use their military bases, begging the question why it was in the alliance.
