{"id":6441,"date":"2026-05-04T10:35:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T10:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/04\/nato-chief-says-europeans-have-gotten-the-message-from-trump-on-defence\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T10:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T10:35:26","slug":"nato-chief-says-europeans-have-gotten-the-message-from-trump-on-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/04\/nato-chief-says-europeans-have-gotten-the-message-from-trump-on-defence\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO chief says Europeans have \u2018gotten the message\u2019 from Trump on defence"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>The US president has accused some NATO countries of not doing enough to support the US-Israel war on Iran.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says European leaders have \u201cgotten the message\u201d after United States President Donald Trump announced plans to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/1\/us-said-to-be-withdrawing-5000-troops-from-germany-over-iran-war-spat\">withdraw 5,000 soldiers from Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has grown increasingly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/9\/trump-slams-nato-over-iran-after-meeting-rutte-renews-greenland-threat\">frustrated with NATO allies<\/a>, accusing them of not doing enough to support the US-Israel war on Iran. Speaking on Monday, Rutte acknowledged \u201cdisappointment from the US side\u201d.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/opinions\/2026\/4\/30\/russia-has-given-iran-something-more-important-than-weapons\">Russia has given Iran something more important than weapons<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/1\/trumps-threat-why-cutting-us-troops-in-europe-wont-be-easy\">Trump\u2019s threat: Why cutting US troops in Europe won\u2019t be easy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/opinions\/2026\/5\/3\/zelenskyy-has-no-cards-to-play-against-russia-or-the-west\">Zelenskyy has no cards to play against Russia or the West<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cEuropean leaders have gotten the message. They heard the message loud and clear,\u201d Rutte said before a European Political Community meeting in Armenia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEuropeans are stepping up, a bigger role for Europe and a stronger NATO,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon announced the troop withdrawal from Germany on Friday, days after German Chancellor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/27\/iran-very-skilful-as-us-humiliated-says-german-chancellor\">Friedrich Merz<\/a>\u00a0said Iran was humiliating the US during the negotiations aimed at ending the war.<\/p>\n<p>The European Union\u2019s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, called the announcement\u2019s timing a \u201csurprise\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it shows that we have to really strengthen the European pillar in NATO, and we have to really do more,\u201d Kallas said while stressing that \u201cAmerican troops are not in Europe only for protecting European interests but also American interests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the weekend, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said officials in the 32-nation military alliance \u201care working with the US to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"dangerous-military-intervention\">\u2018Dangerous military intervention\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>European criticism of the war on Iran has mounted in recent weeks as the conflict sends shockwaves through the global economy due to the continued disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, Merz compared the war to previous military quagmires, such as the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is, at the moment, a pretty tangled situation,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it is costing us a great deal of money. This conflict, this war against Iran, has a direct impact on our economic output.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spain has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/2\/spain-refuses-to-let-us-use-bases-for-iran-attacks\">refused to let the US<\/a> launch attacks on Iran from its airspace or military bases. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has condemned the war as \u201cunjustified\u201d and a \u201cdangerous military intervention\u201d outside the realm of international law.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Trump <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/3\/spain-baulks-at-trumps-threat-to-cut-off-all-trade-over-nato-iran-stance\">called Spain \u201cterrible\u201d<\/a> and threatened to end all trade ties.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, Rutte said \u201cmore and more\u201d European nations were now pre-positioning assets such as minehunters and minesweepers close to the Gulf to be ready for the \u201cnext phase\u201d in the war.<\/p>\n<p>He provided no details, and European nations have previously insisted they would not help to police the Strait of Hormuz until the war is over.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"increased-defence-spending\">Increased defence spending<\/h2>\n<p>Many European countries have committed to ramping up defence spending in the face of fears over Trump\u2019s commitment to NATO and Russia\u2019s assault on Ukraine \u2013 a push underscored by several leaders in the Armenian capital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEuropeans are taking their destiny into their own hands, increasing their defence and security spending, and building their own common solutions,\u201d French President Emmanuel Macron said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to step up our military capabilities to be able to defend and protect ourselves,\u201d European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US president has accused some NATO countries of not doing enough to support the US-Israel war on Iran. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says European leaders have \u201cgotten the message\u201d after United States President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw 5,000 soldiers from Germany. Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with NATO allies, accusing them of &#8230; <a title=\"NATO chief says Europeans have \u2018gotten the message\u2019 from Trump on defence\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/04\/nato-chief-says-europeans-have-gotten-the-message-from-trump-on-defence\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about NATO chief says Europeans have \u2018gotten the message\u2019 from Trump on defence\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}