Rutte Defends NATO’s Iran War Response Amid Trump’s Ire

‘They Were a Bit Surprised’

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte defended allies’ responses to the Iran war on Thursday, despite U.S. President Donald Trump continuing to criticize members’ hesitancy to help U.S. forces reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“Allies are doing everything the United States is asking,” Rutte said, speaking at an event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Washington. He added that “each country is now looking for what they can do to make sure the strait remains open.”

Trump hosted Rutte at the White House on Wednesday, during which the two reportedly discussed the United States’ myriad frustrations with NATO as well as Trump’s threat to withdraw from the alliance entirely. “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the meeting.

Although Rutte acknowledged on Thursday that some allies were “a bit slow” to provide logistical and other support for the U.S. war effort in Iran, he said that “[i]n fairness, they were also a bit surprised” that the United States decided to launch strikes on Iran in the first place.

Now, as Washington and Tehran enter day two of their cease-fire, reopening and safeguarding the Strait of Hormuz remain top concerns.

Only five vessels traveled through the strategic waterway on Wednesday, according to shipping tracking firm Kpler. That is down from an average of around 10 vessels a day over the previous five days. On Thursday, ship traffic dipped below 10 percent of normal volumes.

Experts argue that this is largely due to Iran’s demand to oversee and coordinate all passage through the strait. Tehran has forced some shipowners to pay tolls to transit Hormuz, and Iran has mostly approved only those crossings that pass close to the country’s coast rather than going through the main shipping lanes—suggesting that Iranian forces may have placed mines along the main channels. Rising ship insurance costs due to the war have also prevented vessels from making the voyage.

Tehran will move “management of the Strait of Hormuz to a new stage,” Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday, adding that the country will seek compensation for damages incurred in the war. This appears to contradict Trump’s assertion that the United States would work with Iran to manage traffic buildup in the strait. Meanwhile, analysts have found no signs of large-scale positioning or queuing to go through Hormuz in recent days.

Such hesitancy also reflects the cease-fire’s fragility, as the two-week truce hinges on how Iran and the United States respond to Israel’s continued strikes on Lebanon, which Israel says are targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant organization. More than 1,700 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched its latest campaign against Hezbollah last month.

“The severity with which Israel is waging war there could cause the peace process as a whole to fail,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday.

The United States and Israel maintain that Lebanon is not part of the wider cease-fire deal. However, Iran and mediator Pakistan insist that it is, and many other foreign governments have demanded that Lebanon be included. Israel’s attacks on Lebanon “shouldn’t be happening,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday.

Following a phone call from Trump in which he asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back its operations in Lebanon, Netanyahu announced on Thursday that he had instructed his cabinet to begin direct negotiations with the Lebanese government “as soon as possible.”

“The negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon,” the Israeli leader said in a statement. However, Netanyahu clarified that this did not equate to a cease-fire. “There is no ceasefire in Lebanon. We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force,” he said.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Iranian negotiators are expected to convene in Islamabad on Saturday for peace talks. However, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei warned on Thursday that negotiations in Pakistan are conditional on Washington enforcing the cease-fire on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

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Protecting European cables. Britain and Norway conducted a covert, weekslong military operation in the North Atlantic to deter Russian spy submarines from attacking undersea pipelines and cables, British Defense Secretary John Healey revealed on Thursday. “To President [Vladimir] Putin, I say, ‘We see you. We see your activity over our cables and our pipelines, and you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences,’” Healey said.

Healey accused Moscow of using the Iran war as a distraction to carry out its own covert operations in the High North maritime area, which hosts critical infrastructure and key shipping routes. Healey said that other U.K. allies took part in the mission, though he did not specify which ones, and he said that the operation had been successful in forcing the Russian vessels to eventually leave. There is no evidence of damage to cables or pipelines, he added.

European nations have previously accused Russia’s GUGI—an agency that falls under the Russian military—of conducting underwater sabotage, reconnaissance, and surveillance work. According to Healey, Moscow sent an Akula-class submarine as a diversionary tactic to the area while two GUGI spy subs surveilled nearby cables. Russia has previously denied allegations that it has targeted European undersea infrastructure.

Hungary’s election forecast. As Hungary prepares to hold crucial parliamentary elections on Sunday, a majority of Hungarians want their country to pursue a different foreign policy toward the European Union. Only 19 percent of people surveyed wanted to continue the country’s current trajectory under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, according to a new poll published by the European Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday. Instead, 66 percent of respondents backed Budapest’s accession to the eurozone and a whopping 77 percent supported Hungary’s membership in the European Union.

These numbers do not bode well for Orban, who has made anti-EU and anti-Ukraine rhetoric a key strategy of his reelection campaign. Since taking office 16 years ago, Orban has enacted a slew of far-right, nationalist policies. He has stripped same-sex couples of their parental rights, cracked down on free press, pursued hard-line anti-immigration policies, and blocked the EU from providing Kyiv with billions of euros worth of aid—making Hungary one of Europe’s most influential illiberal democracies.

This week, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance threw the White House’s support behind Orban with a two-day endorsement trip in Budapest. Yet burgeoning support for opposition leader Peter Magyar may turn the tide, as a growing number of Hungarians view the EU as an ally, not an enemy—particularly in the face of Russian threats against the continent. Orban is a close friend of Putin’s and has repeatedly expressed sympathy for Moscow.

Constructive talks. Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed on Wednesday not to escalate their weekslong border conflict, which has killed hundreds of people and displaced around 94,000 others. According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, Kabul and Islamabad have vowed to “explore a comprehensive solution” to the crisis and have promised to keep talking following seven days of Beijing-mediated peace talks.

Since fighting erupted in February, cross-border attacks have hit military installations, health care facilities, and residential areas; last month, a Pakistani airstrike on a state-run drug rehabilitation center in Kabul killed more than 400 people.

“Terrorism is the core issue affecting the relationship,” Mao said on Wednesday. Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of harboring the Pakistani Taliban, an Islamist militant group that has killed hundreds of Pakistani security officials in recent years. Kabul denies doing so despite evidence of the Afghan Taliban providing the Pakistani Taliban with weapons.

Islamabad did not comment on the Chinese-mediated dialogue. However, Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi described the negotiations as being held in a “constructive atmosphere,” and he conveyed hopes that the process will “serve as a catalyst for further strengthening trust-building, sustainable relations, mutual understanding, and effective cooperation.”

Odds and Ends

Last month, India’s Border Security Force directed field units along the country’s border with Bangladesh to consider using reptiles, such as snakes and crocodiles, to impede illegal immigration and criminal activities. The critters would be deployed to areas where regular flooding prevents physical fences from being erected. However, there are several challenges to this plan, one BSF official said: “How does one procure the reptiles and what impact it may have on the local population who live along the riverine stretches?”