Lashing out at Iran for attempting to hold the global economy “hostage,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday said NATO allies are discussing the deployment of military assets to the region to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open amid escalating tensions involving Tehran.
Rutte said Iran’s attempts to disrupt navigation through the strategic waterway posed a direct threat to global trade and allied security.
“Iran is trying to hold the global economy hostage by closing a vital waterway on which much of the world depends,” Rutte said while addressing a press conference ahead of the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Sweden, calling it “a direct assault on freedom of navigation and global commerce.”
Warning that any disruption to the strategic waterway would threaten global trade and allied security, Rutte said several NATO members are already stepping up preparations to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Gulf.
He said several NATO countries, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom, were already repositioning military assets near the region to ensure safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
“And this preparation is key to ensuring that the strait can be open for transit. We will also discuss how to further strengthen cooperation with NATO partners in the Gulf region,” he confirmed that discussions were underway within NATO on whether the alliance could assume a broader role in the Gulf crisis.
“The situation is dynamic. Discussions are ongoing on whether NATO can play a constructive role,” he said, without elaborating on the possible scope or timeline of any NATO-led operation.
The NATO chief also defended growing European military engagement alongside the United States, saying European and Canadian allies had responded rapidly to Washington’s calls for support.
“This is a debate that started again a year ago. This is why Europe is spending so much more to basically end the over-reliance on one ally when it comes to the defence of the overall totality of NATO territory.
This is why European and Canadian allies are increasing their spending, increasing their capabilities, massively investing in the defence industrial base on both sides of the Atlantic,’ Rutte said.
“Thousands of flights” had taken off from European bases in support of US operations, including refuelling and logistics missions, he said.
On Ukraine, Rutte reiterated that European allies and Canada were sharply increasing defence spending to reduce dependence on the United States and strengthen NATO’s conventional deterrence capabilities.
He dismissed suggestions that recent announcements of US troop adjustments in Europe reflected disarray within the alliance, saying the changes were part of a “structured transition” agreed with Washington.
“The US will stay involved in Europe,” he said, adding that any rotational troop reductions would not affect NATO’s defence plans.
The gradual reduction of U.S. troops in Europe will happen “in a structured way”, that won’t impact NATO’s defence plans, Rutte said, pointing to the discussions about how much the US would contribute to NATO in the event of a crisis that had started over a year ago, and described it as a logical response to the increased defence spending by European allies and
“We are aware that adjustments will take place, the US has to pivot more towards, Asia. This will take place over time in a structured way, which you have clearly heard yesterday from the Supreme Allied Commander, General Klinkovich. When it comes to this announcement, the 4,000 to 5,000, it is rotational forces not having an impact on NATO’s defence plans.”
Rutte also highlighted NATO’s growing concern over drone warfare after a Romanian F-16 operating under NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission shot down a drone over Estonian airspace earlier this week.
He blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine for repeated drone incursions into Baltic states and said NATO was adapting its military systems based on battlefield lessons from Ukraine.
“This is exactly what we planned and prepared for — a calm, decisive and proportionate response,” he said.
On Russia’s nuclear rhetoric, Rutte warned Moscow against any escalation involving nuclear weapons.
“They know if that happens, the reaction is devastating,” he said.
Rutte further accused China of aiding Russia through sanctions circumvention and dual-use supplies, saying Beijing, Moscow, North Korea, and Iran had increasingly coordinated since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022.
“Let’s not be naive about what’s happening here,” he said, adding that NATO was deepening cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.
Looking ahead to the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara, Rutte said the alliance’s next major priority after boosting defence spending would be dramatically expanding defence industrial production across member states.
“The Hague summit was about defence spending. The Ankara summit has to be about moving the needle substantially on defence industrial production,” he said.
