Trump's Iran grudge hangs over NATO summit
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President Trump arrives at Tuesday's NATO summit in Ankara still furious at the allies who refused to help him fight Iran — and determined to make sure they know it.
Why it matters: For years, Trump has openly questioned whether America's closest allies are strong enough, loyal enough or useful enough to deserve the protection they've relied on since World War II.
- Some allies' refusal to open air bases for U.S. strikes on Iran — or to send forces to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz — has hardened his NATO skepticism into open contempt.
Zoom in: Trump has spent the weeks since the Iran war publicly humiliating Europe's leaders, including those who once believed their personal rapport could shield them from his wrath.
- He has mocked Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, claiming she "begged" him for a photo at the G7. On Monday, Trump posted a meme of Meloni with the caption: "Restraining order needed."
- He broke the news of U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's resignation, then called Starmer weak and suggested his hesitation over Iran showed he was "no Winston Churchill."
- Even NATO chief Mark Rutte — Europe's preeminent "Trump whisperer" — struck out last month when he tried to flatter the president with a gold-lettered chart touting "The Trump Trillion" in allied defense spending.
Trump, who said he had considered skipping the NATO summit entirely, brushed it off: "We don't need their money — we don't need anything," he said. "I just want loyalty."
State of play: Fears are growing in Europe that Trump's contempt will show up where it matters most: America's military footprint.
- The Pentagon has already cut the number of U.S. Army brigade combat teams in Europe from four to three, canceling a planned deployment of roughly 4,000 troops to Poland.
- The U.S. also has moved to reduce the jets, tankers and warships available to NATO in a crisis — forcing Europe to plan for a war with less American firepower.
What to watch: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a six-month review of U.S. forces in Europe last month, blasting allies as "shameful" for refusing to grant base access for the Iran strikes.
- One U.S. official told Axios the review could lead to adjustments in Europe. A second U.S. official said a "NATO drawdown isn't really on the table" for the summit, but added: "The president isn't happy with the Europeans. It's the same old story."
- U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker told reporters Sunday that Trump will push allies to move faster toward spending 5% of GDP on defense — part of a broader goal, he said, of shifting "the burden of the conventional defense of Europe" to Europe and Canada.
- On that call, another administration official made clear Trump still wants to take control of Greenland from Denmark as "the best way to meet the defense needs of NATO" because it enables the U.S. to check Russia in the Arctic Ocean. Denmark and NATO allies are opposed.
Driving the news: Trump will arrive in Ankara on Tuesday afternoon and meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, one of the few NATO leaders still firmly in his good graces.
- The Iran fallout will follow him into that meeting, too: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu privately asked Trump on Friday to refrain from selling Turkey advanced weapons systems, citing Erdoğan's escalating anti-Israel rhetoric.
- On Wednesday, Trump will participate in a NATO leaders' working session and hold bilateral meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
- He closes with a press conference before flying home, landing back at the White House Wednesday evening.
Between the lines: Trump's meeting with Zelensky could become the summit's most consequential side drama.
- Ukrainian officials hope the meeting — their second in three weeks — will produce movement on two urgent priorities: Patriot air defense systems and a new U.S. push for a deal to end the war.
- But European officials say the message from Washington in recent weeks has been that Ukraine now has the upper hand on the battlefield, giving the White House less urgency to launch a new diplomatic initiative.
- "The Ukrainians are going more on offense and it might be making a difference," a U.S. official said.
At the G7 last month, Trump expressed frustration with Vladimir Putin and signaled he could walk back the understandings they reached at last year's Alaska summit on principles for ending the war.
- Trump spoke over the weekend with both Zelensky and Putin. "I think he does feel pressure. He wants to end it. Ukraine wants to end it too. We are talking to both sides," Trump told reporters Monday.
- A U.S. official put it more starkly: "We think Putin wants to end this because it's all too much. The economic situation. The stagnation. The death. The losses are just staggering. He's running out of meat for the meat grinder."
- "But Putin doesn't think the way we do," the official added. "So if we think it's rational to stop, he might not."
