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July 8, 2026 / 7:40 AM EDT
/ CBS News
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President Trump is planning to hold a press conference Wednesday as he wraps up the final day of the NATO summit as the U.S. launched more strikes in Iran and the alliance's secretary general told the president, "I'm with you on this." The support from NATO came as Mr. Trump has been urging members of the alliance to spend more on their defense. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called it "absolutely necessary" that the U.S. launched the strikes, which were in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz."It was a very strong response, and I'm with you on this," Rutte said, sitting next to Mr. Trump.NATO's annual two-day summit is set to wrap up Wednesday in the Turkish capital of Ankara, where Mr. Trump made it clear the U.S. and Turkey are better friends than some more traditional NATO allies. The president has pressed NATO states to spend 5% of their annual GDP on defense, and has chafed at some members that he believes are not carrying their weight. He has also criticized several NATO members for not getting involved in the U.S.-Iran conflict, and continues to toy with acquiring Greenland.Mr. Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. should help Turkey, a country that has "frankly has been more helpful to the United States than many other more traditional countries." On Tuesday, the Mr. Trump announced his plans to ease sanctions on Turkey, and said he's considering allowing the country to reenter the the F-35 fighter jet program once again. Turkey was kicked out of the program by the Trump administration in 2019 over its use of Russian defense technology, seen as a national security concern. In 2020, Congress passed legislation effectively prohibiting the transfer of F-35 aircraft to Turkey.
