US President Donald Trump has vented his frustration with NATO during a private meeting with its secretary-general Mark Rutte, as relations in the military alliance reached a crisis point over the Iran war.
"He is clearly disappointed with many NATO allies, and I can see his point," Rutte told CNN after spending more than two hours at the White House on Wednesday.
"This was a very frank, very open discussion, but also a discussion between two good friends."
Rutte spoke hours after White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt quoted Trump as saying of NATO: "They were tested, and they failed," during the Iran war.
Several NATO countries resisted supporting the US military campaign against Iran by denying US military planes use of their airspace or declining to send naval forces to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz for energy tankers.
Without specifying the countries, Rutte said his own view was that "some" NATO countries had failed to live up to their commitments in the Iran operation but that "the large majority of Europeans" had been helpful.
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