Trump meets NATO chief Mark Rutte as alliance tensions rise over Iran

President Donald Trump will meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House on Wednesday, just as transatlantic relations within the alliance have deteriorated over U.S. operations in Iran.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw the United States from NATO and criticized European countries for blocking access to their bases and providing limited aid to the Iranian offensive known as Operation Epic Fury.

Despite good relations with the NATO chief, who once called him “the daddy” of the alliance, Trump has said he views NATO as a “one-way street.”

“You will have to start learning to fight for yourself, the United States will no longer be there to help you, just like you were not there for us,” he told the alliance in a March 31 Truth Social article.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also meeting with Rutte on Wednesday, recently told Fox News: “Once this conflict is over, we will have to reexamine this relationship. We will have reexamined the value of NATO in this alliance for our country.”

President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House July 14, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The Spanish Prime Minister closed Spanish airspace to any aircraft – including US bombers departing from the UK – involved in strikes against Iran and refused US use of its domestic bases, Rota Naval Base and Morón Air Base, for any combat, resupply or organizational missions related to the Iranian conflict.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during his visit to the Istres military air base, southern France, Thursday January 15, 2026. (Philippe Magoni/AP)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during a joint statement following Italian-German government consultations in Rome on January 23, 2026. (Remo Casilli/Reuters)

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President Emmanuel Macron has blocked Israeli planes from using French airspace to transport American-made munitions for the war in Iran.

Meanwhile, Finnish President Alexander Stubb told Trump in a phone call that a “more European NATO” was taking shape.

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European countries have suffered the consequences of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for natural gas supplies, and have expressed frustration at not being consulted before the start of the Iranian conflict.

“I am not the commentator of an operation that the Americans decided with the Israelis alone. They can then regret not having been supported in an operation that they decided themselves. It is not our operation,” Macron told journalists on April 2.