The US move has sparked fear it could leave Europe vulnerable in the face of an aggressive Russia
US President Donald Trump told NATO chief Mark Rutte on Wednesday he was “let down” by members of the transatlantic alliance who did not back his war against Iran.
“We were let down. We didn’t need help on this at all. We demolished (Iran) literally in the first week but it would have been nice if they would have said, ‘We’d like to help,'” Trump said during a meeting with Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House.
For his part, Rutte defended the conduct of NATO countries, saying there were 4-5,000 “US planes taking off from bases in Europe” during the war.
The NATO chief then told journalists after the meeting that Trump is “completely committed to the NATO alliance,” and said Washington would “absolutely” protect Europe in case of attack.
