"I just want loyalty": Trump's Iran grudge hangs over NATO summit
politics
According to Axios, President Trump heads into Tuesday's NATO summit in Ankara still fuming at allies who refused to help him strike Iran — and he wants them to feel it. Axios reports he's spent weeks publicly needling Europe's leaders, mocking Italy's Giorgia Meloni, calling U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer weak, and brushing off NATO chief Mark Rutte's flattery. Asked about the friction, Trump said, quote, we don't need their money, we don't need anything, I just want loyalty. The stakes go beyond mood: the Pentagon has already trimmed U.S. Army brigade combat teams in Europe from four to three and canceled a deployment of roughly four thousand troops to Poland. A six-month review of American forces on the continent is underway, and Trump will press allies toward spending five percent of G.D.P. on defense. Sideline meetings with Zelensky and Erdoğan loom, with Ukraine's Patriot systems on the table.
Source: https://www.axios.com/2026/07/07/trump-nato-iran-war-grudge
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