President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on June 24, 2026. Aaron Schwartz/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump said on July 7 that he was “testing” NATO allies to see whether they would be willing to help the United States during its recent military operation against Iran.
Speaking to reporters during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the two-day NATO summit, Trump said the United States was not “treated well” by its allies during Operation Epic Fury. He also said he used the military operation to test the response of other NATO members.
“We didn’t need any help at all. And in a way, I was testing people. I was testing to see whether or not they‘d be there. Because I’ve long said that we help them, but I’m not sure that they’d be there for us,” Trump said.
Multiple NATO members, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy, refused to help the United States during its war with Iran, Trump said. He questioned why the United States is spending “hundreds of billions of dollars” on NATO when its allies “are not there for us.”
After U.S. and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, Trump urged U.S. allies to support efforts to provide security for commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz in response to threats from Iran. However, most NATO members did not offer support for the military operation against Iran.
During the early phase of the war with Iran, the Spanish government said the U.S. military operation was against the U.N. Charter and blocked U.S. forces from using military bases in Spain to support Operation Epic Fury.
Trump also accused British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of denying a request to send two aircraft carriers to the Middle East. Other member nations also refused to join the conflict or provide support.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said at the start of the Iran war that there were “absolutely no plans” for NATO to “get dragged into this or being part of it,” except for individual allies “doing what they can to enable what the Americans are doing together with Israel.”
Despite facing pressure from Trump, Starmer said it was not in the UK’s “national interest” to join the war. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also said that involvement in the war would be against his country’s interests.
“We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world and is also contrary to our values and interests, just out of fear of reprisals from someone,” he said.
During a meeting with Rutte in June, Trump said he just wanted “loyalty” from America’s NATO allies.
NATO’s 32 member countries are meeting in Ankara, Turkey, on July 7 and 8 and are expected to discuss the president’s demands for increased defense spending commitments. Trump previously called for NATO members to agree to increase defense spending to a total of 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for each member country.
Rutte announced multiple arms contracts worth billions of dollars during a defense industry forum in Ankara ahead of the NATO summit on Tuesday. The contracts include purchasing surveillance drones, acquiring surveillance aircraft, and investing in counter-drone capabilities.
“We need to ensure that we are translating our economic might into military capabilities, putting the cash to work from defense plans to drones, from money to missiles and interceptors,” Rutte said.
