A memo seen by Reuters shows that NATO leaders are placing the Iranian file at the top of the agenda for their upcoming summit in Ankara on 7 and 8 July, the alliance's first meeting since the recent military confrontation between the United States and Iran.
According to a draft final communiqué seen by Reuters, NATO leaders — including US President Donald Trump — will affirm that Iran must never possess a nuclear weapon, and will call on Tehran to fully respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, in a message reflecting Western concern over the impact of Gulf tensions on global energy security and trade.
The leaders will also reaffirm a firm commitment to Article 5 of the alliance treaty, which stipulates that an attack on any member state is considered an attack on all NATO members — a step aimed at dispelling doubts raised by Trump's recent remarks about the future of the US commitment to European security.
The summit comes amid internal disagreements that member states have not fully resolved, despite diplomats at alliance headquarters in Brussels continuing negotiations until the final days before the meeting, according to Bloomberg.
These disagreements cover issues relating to the funding of military infrastructure projects, the future of military support for Ukraine, and the sharing of defence spending burdens among allies.
European officials say they hope that the close relationships US President Donald Trump has with both his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will help ensure the summit proceeds smoothly, but they do not rule out tensions arising, given the persistence of transatlantic disagreements over the war against Iran and Trump's repeated criticism of the alliance.
In a post on his Truth Social platform the day before yesterday, Trump complained that the United States was spending money to protect alliance members