{"id":7493,"date":"2026-06-25T16:35:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/iran-accuses-nato-of-complicity-in-us-war-what-role-did-eu-nations-play\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T16:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:35:30","slug":"iran-accuses-nato-of-complicity-in-us-war-what-role-did-eu-nations-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/iran-accuses-nato-of-complicity-in-us-war-what-role-did-eu-nations-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran accuses NATO of \u2018complicity\u2019 in US war: What role did EU nations play?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Since the beginning of the US-Israel war on Iran, President Donald Trump has been critical of his European allies for not supporting the military campaign against Tehran.<\/p>\n

The United States president expressed his displeasure with members of the transatlantic alliance during a meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was disappointed with Italy. I was disappointed with the UK, Germany, and France. We were disappointed with most of them. Spain is a horror show,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters in the Bahraini capital Manama, Trump\u2019s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, on Thursday repeated the US claims that European help fell short during the conflict. \u201cEurope not allowing use of military bases undermines alliance between the continent and US,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s Rutte, who has been visiting the US to ease the transatlantic tensions, has revealed more about the involvement of European nations in the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlly after ally,\u201d he said, made their bases available to the US military during the war on Iran. Rutte\u2019s comments revealed that aside from \u201cisolated cases\u201d, European allies had, in fact, helped the US with logistics during the war.<\/p>\n

So, why has Trump been upset with European allies and what has been the level of participation of EU nations in the war?<\/p>\n

\".\"
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte displays charts during a meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 24, 2026 [Evan Vucci\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How did EU nations participate?<\/h2>\n

Rutte referred to Italy and Romania\u2019s assistance to the US military, for instance, during the conflict, pointing to the role European bases played in the war.<\/p>\n

When you look at the numbers, 4-5,000 US planes [were] taking off from bases in Europe in the six weeks this war took place,\u201d Rutte told Fox News in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI do agree there\u2019s reason for disappointment, absolutely,\u201d Rutte said. \u201cBut my argument is this: these are isolated cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something more to say about this. Country after country, ally after ally after ally, have made their bases available for Epic Fury,\u201d Rutte said, referring to the US-given name of the military operation against Iran.<\/p>\n

Rutte noted that 500 US planes flew from bases in Italy during the so-called Operation Epic Fury, while Romania had to cut down on commercial air flights to allow US forces to store tankers at the city\u2019s airport.<\/p>\n

The NATO chief added that European allies are continuing to assist the US with defending the Strait of Hormuz. \u201cYou see now massive European allies pre-positioning their assets close to the Strait so to be able to help, for example, when it comes to demining,\u201d Rutte said.<\/p>\n

Rutte has been a known Trump backer \u2013 and he credited the US president for forcing NATO countries to increase their defence spending. \u201cWhen you look at the numbers of the investments NATO countries are now making in their own defence, it is staggering,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Trump] is really encouraging everyone to do that and the results are there,\u201d added Rutte. \u201cAll of this is leadership necessary to make sure we stay safe as an alliance to the United States, the alliance as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United Kingdom\u2019s Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to join the war but allowed the use of its base in Diego Garcia strictly for defensive manoeuvres. Spain, which condemned the war, and France refused the use of their airbases for military purposes.<\/p>\n

Why did EU nations avoid active participation in the war?<\/h2>\n

European nations largely backed Trump\u2019s military campaign against Iran but refused active participation in the conflict, saying \u201cthis is not Europe\u2019s war\u201d.<\/p>\n

European capitals have also been reluctant due to a lack of a legal basis for the war, which was launched on questionable grounds and without consultation with Brussels. Trump and Israel justified their war, saying Iran was on the verge of making nuclear weapons. But this was rejected by the US\u2019s own intelligence agency.<\/p>\n

European nations were also wary of violations of the laws governing war, as civilians and institutions such as schools and hospitals were repeatedly attacked.<\/p>\n

Western Europeans backed dialogue to end the war and condemned Tehran for its attacks on Gulf nations. Only a few countries, such as Spain, condemned Trump\u2019s war and called for an immediate ceasefire and the upholding of international law by all parties. Madrid had also opposed Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, calling it genocide.<\/p>\n

\"TEHRAN,
The spokesperson for Iran\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baghaei, attends a news conference at the ministry\u2019s offices in Tehran, Iran, on May 4, 2026 [Fatemeh Bahrami\/Anadolu Agency]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How has Iran reacted?<\/h2>\n

Iran seized on Rutte\u2019s statement, calling out NATO\u2019s \u201cactive complicity\u201d in the US-Israel war that killed more than 3,400 people in Iran and caused extensive damage to oil and civilian infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a clear and damning admission of NATO\u2019s active complicity in an unlawful war of aggression against a sovereign UN Member State \u2013 a flagrant violation of peremptory norms of international law and the core principles of the UN Charter,\u201d Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n

Baghaei said that NATO, and its individual member states which \u201cparticipated in such decision making, must be held accountable for all the consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey, along with every other European country that has assisted the American-Israeli aggression against Iran, must explain to their own people and to the world why they chose to collude in this blatant act of aggression and in the commission of mass atrocities against Iranian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Meloni
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been attacked by the opposition after Rutte\u2019s revelation [File: Evelyn Hockstein\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What has Italy said on Rutte\u2019s claims?<\/h2>\n

Rutte\u2019s comments have caused an uproar in Italy, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has publicly refused to join the war against Iran.<\/p>\n

Rome was quick to distance itself from Rutte\u2019s comments. Italy\u2019s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said that Rutte had conveyed a \u201ctotally misleading message\u201d by confusing authorised support flights with combat-related operations.<\/p>\n

Italy had acted in full compliance with its constitution, international treaties and agreements governing allied bases on its soil, he added. \u201cAs already clarified in parliament, the government authorised exclusively technical and logistical, non-kinetic activities,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n

Italy hosts nearly 120 US \u2060military facilities, including the Sigonella naval air station in Sicily and the Aviano airbase in northern Italy.<\/p>\n

Crosetto was referring to Meloni\u2019s statement from March, where she insisted, \u201cWe are not at war and we do not want to enter a war,\u201d but added that Rome would follow the terms of longstanding bilateral agreements with the US, dating back to 1954, which allow the use of bases for certain logistical and noncombat operations.<\/p>\n

Opposition leaders are now demanding new explanations following Rutte\u2019s revelation.<\/p>\n

Nicola Fratoianni of the opposing Greens and Left Alliance said either the government had misled lawmakers or Rutte \u201chas suffered heatstroke\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"trump\"
US President Donald Trump participates in a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 24, 2026 [Evan Vucci\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What\u2019s behind US tensions with NATO?<\/h2>\n

NATO, which includes European countries, the United States and Canada, was formed in 1949 to counter threats posed by the erstwhile Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

Since returning to the White House in 2024, Trump has been critical of NATO, often targeting the alliance members for their lower military spending. He has accused EU nations of taking the US for granted as he pushed them to share more of the burden for Europe\u2019s security. His administration has already announced the withdrawal of troops from Germany.<\/p>\n

Most NATO members have since pledged to raise their defence spending but not to the level that Trump has demanded \u2013 the US president wants NATO members to spend 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.<\/p>\n

The transatlantic tensions peaked during the war on Iran, with Trump threatening to walk out of the alliance at one point due to its European members\u2019 refusal to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, a global energy chokepoint.<\/p>\n

Sitting across from NATO\u2019s Rutte, Trump told reporters on Wednesday that even though Washington did not need any help, as it fought alongside Israel, \u201cit would have been nice\u201d if European countries had turned up offering assistance.<\/p>\n

Rutte\u2019s White House visit, an apparent attempt to soothe Trump, comes just two weeks from the annual meeting of the alliance scheduled to be held in Turkiye\u2019s Ankara.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the beginning of the US-Israel war on Iran, President Donald Trump has been critical of his European allies for not supporting the military campaign against Tehran. The United States president expressed his displeasure with members of the transatlantic alliance during a meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte on Wednesday. \u201cI was disappointed with Italy. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7493","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\/7493","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=7493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}