On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that some NATO members did fail their tests during the war in Iran, but “a large majority” of European nations lived up to their commitments.
Host Jake Tapper asked, “Do you agree that NATO countries, some of them, were tested and failed?”
Rutte answered, “Some of them, yes, but a large majority of European countr[ies] — and that’s what we discussed today — have done what they promised before in a case like this, because they know that, when it comes to NATO, it’s there to protect the United States, because the U.S. needs a secure Atlantic and a secure Arctic and a secure Europe to stay safe here in the U.S. mainland. But it is also there to make sure that, of course, Europe is safe, and to be this platform of power projection for the United States. So, what the U.S. did with Iran, they could do because so many European countries lived up to those commitments, not all of them. And I totally understand his disappointment about that. But it is, therefore, a nuanced picture. It is not just saying it is black or white.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett