Trump criticizes NATO allies over Iran war support

US President Donald Trump voiced frustration Wednesday with several NATO allies over insufficient support during the war with Iran.

Speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House, Trump was asked whether he still believed some European allies had treated the US unfairly and what they could do to improve relations.

Trump said he had been “disappointed” by the response of several key NATO members, including Italy, the UK, Germany and France.

“I was disappointed with Italy. I was disappointed with the UK,” he said. “We were disappointed with Germany and France. We’re disappointed with most of them.”

Trump accused Spain of failing to contribute sufficiently to the alliance’s collective efforts.

“Spain is a horror show. Spain is terrible,” he said. “They don’t want to pay anything. They think they’re in for a free ride.”

Despite his criticism of several alliance members, Trump praised Rutte and said the two leaders would discuss recent developments and the role of NATO allies.

“I have great respect for this man,” he said, referring to the NATO secretary general. “We’re going to be discussing what took place, and we’ll see what happened.”

On NATO, Trump said the US wants “their loyalty.”

“We don’t need their money. We don’t need anything…I just want loyalty, you know. We’re so loyal to them, we’re always fighting for them. We have thousands of troops all over Europe. In Germany, we have 50,000 troops, and then you want a little, give us a little nudge, give us a little kiss. We don’t want much, and they say ‘no, we can’t do it.’

“We’re paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the troops that we have in Germany, the troops that we have in the UK, the troops that we have all over Europe,” Trump added.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rutte expressed confidence in Trump’s commitment to NATO.

“He is completely committed to the NATO alliance,” he said. “He was always clear: ‘I’m committed to the NATO alliance, but I expect allies to spend more to equalize with the United States.'”

“What he achieved in The Hague, the 5% commitment, and what you’re now seeing that in one year, we had an almost 20% increase, Europeans and Canadians, to a $139 billion spending increase is evidence that not only there was the commitment in The Hague, but now we are delivering. This is thanks to his leadership,” he added.

“The Europeans and Canada are now on a trajectory to equalize their spending with the United States,” Rutte said.