NATO Secretary General hailed President Donald Trump’s Iran deal for ensuring Iran never becomes a nuclear power, and saying NATO was ready to play a role in securing the Strait of Hormuz if “so wanted”.
The re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz is a “massive step forward”, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Mark Rutte said on Wednesday morning in remarks ahead of an alliance defence ministers’ meeting on Thursday.
Rutte expressed his praise for the U.S.-Iran deal which promises to end conflict in the Middle East, and particularly for the prospect of a nuclear free Iran. The alliance boss said at NATO headquarters:
I really want to welcome the deal made by President Trump with Iran. The U.S. action to prevent the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran and degrade its ballistic missile capability improves security for us all. And the deal President Trump struck ahs created an opportunity to ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon. The restoration of free passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be a massive step forward. I know that many allies through the initiative led by France and the United Kingdom are ready to support.
While alliance members UK and France are leading the mooted international effort to patrol the critical Strait of Hormuz chokepoint in the Persian Gulf, Rutte emphasises that the region is well outside of NATO’s area of responsibility.
Nevertheless, NATO could be called upon for support if required, and if that would improve prospects for peace in the region, he said. Rutte, the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands who was picked for the top alliance job on the strength of his strong rapport with Donald Trump at a time where the alliance faces great change into what has been called “NATO 3.0”, noted it was now time to ensure Iran delivered on their commitment to see freedom of navigation in the waters through which much of the world’s oil traffic typically flows reopened.
He said:
… this is legally and literally speaking outside of NATO territory but it is absolutely clear that we have the United Kingdom and France that are coordinating all of this. We are already seeing massive pre-deployment of assets over the last two months by European allies and others close to theatre, particularly where it comes to demining and radar and other technologies… whether NATO plays a role there, yes or no, if helpful of course we will play a role, but if they can do it without us, also OK, we are always ready to help if so wanted.
Rutte also made remarks on the situation in Europe, where there military alliance borders the Ukraine active warzone. He euphemistically called that situation a “dynamic security environment” and hailed the progress of the European members of NATO in boosting their defence spending so far, while warning it was expected they would turn up to a major NATO conference later this year with “clear, concrete, and credible plans” to improve, as commanded by President Trump.
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