World leaders, including US President Donald Trump, convened at the NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday, where rising tensions between Israel and Iran topped the agenda.
Speaking at a joint press briefing with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump likened the conflict between the two countries to “children in a schoolyard,” saying, “They fight like hell. You can’t stop them. Let them fight for about two or three minutes. Then it’s easier to stop them.”
Rutte responded wryly, “And then daddy sometimes has to use strong language.”
Trump added, “Every once in a while, you have to use a certain word,” as both leaders acknowledged the challenges facing the alliance.
Trump also criticised US media reports about leaked intelligence suggesting that American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities had delayed Iran’s atomic ambitions by only a few months. According to the Associated Press, Trump dismissed these claims as “disgusting” and “unfair,” arguing they failed to credit American pilots who risked their lives.
In a bid to counter the reports, the White House released a statement from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission claiming that the American and Israeli strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear programme “by many years.”
The summit in the Netherlands comes as the 32-member NATO alliance debates a new collective defence spending target and prepares for continued geopolitical instability in the region.