US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday berated NATO alliance partners over their military spending and lack of initial support for the US war in Iran.
Addressing fellow defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Hegseth doubled down on US President Donald Trump's threat to withdraw troops from Europe — where Washington stations them in order to aid in the defense of Europe, as well as to enable the more rapid projection of US military might abroad.
Hegseth said Washington would conduct a review to "examine America's force posture and basing in Europe."
Reporting from Brussels, DW correspondent Terri Schultz said that Hegseth "picked up the script where he left it in his highly critical speech in Normandy earlier this month."
"In an angry rebuke tied to dissatisfaction with the European response to President Trump's war on Iran, Hegseth announced a six-month process of reviewing the US defense posture in Europe, looking at the number of forces and presence on bases," she said.
