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President Trump, at the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Ankara, Turkey, called the gathering “a great success” marked by unity, and thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for hosting it.
“We’ve had a tremendous time and I think a great success,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference Wednesday, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. “We just concluded a very successful NATO summit here in Turkey, and I want to thank President Erdogan who’s really a great man, a great leader.”
The president spoke of the “tremendous unity” among NATO allies in the meetings and urged all of the countries in the alliance to reach the target spending of 5% of their gross domestic product on defense. Mr. Trump insisted “all” the NATO countries want U.S. defense equipment. The president appeared to take a more positive stance on European NATO allies, despite his criticism of them for not doing more in the United States’ war with Iran.
“They just had a bad moment,” Mr. Trump said of European allies who preferred to stay on the sidelines regarding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. “They didn’t help us. We didn’t need the help. But if we would have wanted the help.”
“I can only say if there’s one word that comes out of today it’s unification,” he added. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Every one of those countries. They love us, they love each other. That was tremendous unification.”
Earlier Wednesday, the president said of the ceasefire with Iran that “as far as I’m concerned, it’s over” and told reporters that the U.S. may reinstate its naval blockade of Iran, and would probably strike Iran harder again Wednesday night, after Iran attacked three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz this week.
Nonetheless, Mr. Trump declared that “the Iran war has been a tremendous military success,” before suggesting Iran might assassinate him, noting its leaders were killed during the war.
“Their leaders are gone,” he said of Iran. “Head leaders, they’re gone, and they had another set of leaders, they’re gone. Now they have have another set of leaders — they may be gone —who knows And you know what? I may be gone, too. Because I’m their No. 1 target.”
“I’m not sure I want to make a deal with them,” Mr. Trump added, saying he might just “finish” the job in Iran.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte expressed support for the strikes the U.S. has conducted since Iran’s attacks on the tankers: “It was a very strong response, and I’m with you on this.”
That comment came as Mr. Trump has been urging members of the alliance to spend more on their defense.
NATO’s annual two-day summit was set in the city 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.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said Greenland is “very important to us,” adding the U.S. “took Greenland” after World War II, “and then stupidly we gave it back.” The U.S. did defend Greenland from German occupation during World War II, but Denmark always retained the island.
“Greenland is, of course, not for sale,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen repeated Wednesday.
“We hope that all, including all allies, will respect the Greenland people’s right for self-determination,” Frederiksen said. “And we are sovereign states and we need everybody to respect our territorial integrity and our sovereignty.”
She said Denmark is “ready to defend every inch of NATO including our own territory” in the event of an attack and would rely on NATO allies to honor their commitment to defend each other. Other NATO member countries have reaffirmed their support for Denmark.
Amid this rupture, 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, he 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.
While some Republicans are still expressing concerns over the possibility of Turkey acquiring F-35s, Mr. Trump said he doesn’t have any concerns about Turkey, and praised Erdoğan.
“I have no concerns at all about anything,” he said. “I mean, he’s a leader of a country that he’s made a much better country, much more powerful country. You see it — I mean, it’s beautiful, you get off, the roads are beautiful, it’s an amazing thing. No, I have no concerns about anything having to do with Turkey.”
Tensions with Iran are also on the rise, and the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding is in jeopardy, after Iran struck tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. responded by revoking a general license for Iran to sell oil.
Mr. Trump met with a number of world leaders on the sidelines of NATO, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Russia’s war in Ukraine is another key topic for NATO allies, with no resolution in sight. During their meeting, Mr. Trump announced the U.S. will grant Ukraine the license to make their own Patriot missiles for defense, even as Mr. Trump offered sympathetic words to both Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. president told reporters to give him questions to convey to Russian President Vladimir Putin when they speak later.
A Ukrainian reporter asked, “When will he end this war?”
“That’s a good question,” the U.S. president responded. “I don’t think I’ve ever asked him that question. I’m going to ask him that question.”
