By Lili Bayer
April 9 (Reuters) – NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has briefed some capitals that U.S. President Donald Trump wants concrete commitments within the next few days for help securing the Strait of Hormuz, three European diplomats told Reuters on Thursday.
Rutte met with Trump in Washington on Wednesday, amid tensions within the alliance over the Iran war.
“The Secretary General is in contact with Allies about his discussions in Washington,” NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said on Thursday. “It’s clear that the United States expects concrete commitments and action to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” she added.
The U.S. president has repeatedly called NATO a “paper tiger” and threatened to withdraw from the 32-member transatlantic alliance in recent weeks, arguing that Washington’s European allies have relied on U.S. security guarantees while providing inadequate support for the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran.
“We note the frustration in Washington, but they did not consult allies either before or after starting this war,” said one of the diplomats.
“NATO as such would not play a role in the war against Iran, but allies want to be helpful in seeking longer-term solutions for Hormuz. With negotiations ongoing with Iran, this could be helpful,” the diplomat said.
Although Trump said on Tuesday the attacks on Iran would be paused under a two-week ceasefire, the fallout from the conflict has continued to strain ties.
Trump posted on Truth Social after the meeting in capitalized letters that “NATO wasn’t there when we needed them, and they won’t be there if we need them again.”
Dutchman Rutte, known in Europe as a “Trump whisperer” and who has faced criticism for frequently praising the U.S. leader, said in an interview with CNN after Wednesday’s meeting that Trump “is clearly disappointed with many NATO allies, and I can see his point”.
A senior European official said “the NATO community is more worried right now than confident” and “the meeting did not take the worry away”.
EARLY PLANNING UNDER WAY BUT QUESTIONS REMAIN
Britain is leading a group of around 40 countries seeking to come up with a military and diplomatic plan to reopen and safeguard Hormuz but there is little indication it will yield any near-term breakthrough. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday about 15 countries were planning to facilitate the resumption of traffic through the strait.
France’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday that Hormuz would be unable to fully reopen until there was a lasting agreement between the U.S. and Iran, while Italy and Britain said Iran’s position that it could impose a toll to cross the strait was unacceptable.
“We have an ongoing track on Hormuz, which is largely unrelated to what happened in the White House yesterday,” said a fourth European diplomat.
“We know the urgency on the U.S. side, and we know that Rutte is trying to position himself in a way that he is helpful in that conversation. We are willing to make the right noises and even the right actions down the line. But ultimately the problem is not to please the U.S. but to have the right conditions in place,” the diplomat added.
(Reporting by Lili Bayer and Tom Balmforth; Editing by Bart Meijer, Keith Weir and Hugh Lawson)
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