Iran may be outside NATO’s territory, but nonetheless, Secretary General Mark Rutte has opened the door to potential alliance involvement in the U.S.-Israeli war of aggression against that country. Not only has he bragged repeatedly over the past couple of weeks about the 5,000 U.S. flights that took off or landed in Europe in support of Operation Epic Fury–all in a vain attempt to please Donald Trump—but the alliance included Iran in its declaration at the end of the summit in Ankara on July 8. “Allies reiterate that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon and call on Iran to fully respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” its fifth paragraph says.
During Rutte’s summit-closing press conference, a reporter asked him: “If the U.S.-Tehran negotiations fail, what is the NATO strategy to keep this objective?”
”[I]t’s absolutely clear it is a NATO policy that, and in point of view of all 32 Allies, that Iran should never get its hands on a nuclear capability,” Rutte replied. “Obviously, Iran is outside NATO territory, that doesn’t mean that NATO could never get involved. But as I said before, if helpful, NATO is always willing to play a role.”
