Five main points taken from the NATO meeting in Ankara | NATO news

The meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has ended in the Turkish capital.

The two-day meeting came at a critical time for the alliance, after the three-month war between the United States and Israel on Iran, the President of the United States Donald Trump’s habit of insulting his allies, and the growing fear in Europe of Russia’s military power.

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As expected, NATO’s defense budgets and aid to Ukraine dominated the event, with the alliance pledging 70 billion euros ($80bn) to support Kyiv and pledging to continue increasing defense spending.

“The lead is a truly reformed NATO,” Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday. “If you look at the United States, you will have European allies who are able, with the US, to work together in NATO to protect a billion people.”

Meanwhile, Trump hailed a “very successful” meeting characterized by “great unity”, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the meetings “historic”.

But the meeting was also marred by an unexpected explosion – meaning Trump announcing that the memorandum of understanding between Washington (MoU) and Tehran is “expired” and confirming, after months of silence on the topic, that the US should control Greenland.

Here are five key takeaways from the conference:

Trump says MoU with Iran ‘done’

The Iran war has already loomed large in the conference as one of the causes recent problems between the US and its allies.

But the weakening of the ceasefire took a major role after the US he started many protests on Wednesday early in Iran, says it will retaliate against Tehran’s attack on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday morning that the MoU with Tehran was “finished” before issuing a tirade.

“They are led by sick people, by brutal, violent people, and if they had a nuclear weapon, they would use it,” said the president of the United States. “As far as I know, it’s over.”

In his final speech later that day, Trump said he did not think the war would resume, adding that the US was “not looking for a long-term conflict”.

Back home in Washington, opponents of the Iran war were quick to criticize Trump about interrupting the conversation. But NATO’s Rutte told reporters that the strike was “necessary”.

“Iran is violating the ceasefire,” he said. “We see what happened yesterday ships are being attacked. I think it is very important for the US to take strong action. “

The last NATO declaration called on Iran to respect the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and stated that Iran should not be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

Security costs

On the floor increased strength from Trump, NATO leaders agreed to increase defense spending and expand the capabilities of the military-industrial alliance, including air and missile defense.

The offer includes “more than $50 billion in new procurement”, the NATO announcement said, with an eye on “deep strike, integrated air and missile defense, flexible systems, advanced technologies, and strategic capabilities”. It also spoke of a “connected military cloud spanning the Atlantic Ocean and adopting powerful AI models”.

However, NATO data shows that only five of NATO’s 32 members are expected to meet the alliance’s goal of spending 3.5 percent of gross domestic product on defense by 2026.

Members agreed to increase spending from 2 percent at a meeting in The Hague last year, and spend more. 1.5 percent of GDP on most defense related investments. Seventeen members are expected to meet the 1.5% target.

Defense spending in NATO Europe and Canada was 2.3 percent of GDP in 2025, rising to 2.53 percent in 2026. The US reported 3.17 percent.

Trump said at the end of the meeting that other countries are “making great progress”.

“Many of these countries are very rich, by the way, we don’t have to feel sorry for them,” he said, adding that several have “really answered the call”.

Reporting from Ankara, Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid said Trump appeared “satisfied” with NATO’s response.

Help for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held several meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday where he promoted Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO.

The agreement gave a large part of its identity to Ukraine and the growing threat of Russia, pledging 70 billion euros ($80bn) in military equipment, aid and training to Ukraine and confirming “their commitment to achieving the same level in 2027”.

NATO said its allies “stand by our unwavering support for Ukraine in the defense of its independence, sovereignty, and integrity”.

The meeting also saw bonhomie between Zelenskyy and Trump, who spoke to reporters together before the meeting.

Trump said the US would give Ukraine the right to manufacture Patriot weapons, which are expensive and in high demand.

Such a move would be a major boost for Kyiv, which recently applied for a permit to manufacture missiles in Ukraine.

“We’re going to show them how to do it,” Trump said. “I think they can make it very quickly.”

Zelenskyy wrote on X after the meeting that he was “grateful”, saying that he and Trump “discussed ideas that will strengthen us and bring peace closer”.

Zelenskyy also said that he wrote bilateral trade of drones and several countries, and other developments.

Conflicts flared up in Greenland

War in Iran appears to have ended Trump’s brief seeking to conquer GreenlandDenmark’s autonomous region in the Arctic.

However, he returned to Greenland his refusal during the two-day meeting, saying that Greenland is “very important” to the US “but not important to Denmark”.

“In fact, when Denmark was defeated by the Nazis in less than a day – Hitler defeated them in one day, he defeated them – they asked us to take care of Greenland. In fact, we took Greenland, and then stupidly, we gave it back,” said Trump.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has repeated several times that Greenland is not for sale. “We are ready to defend every inch of NATO, including our territory,” he said.

The EU also intervened to ensure that “decisions about Greenland’s future belong to Greenlanders and Danes”.

EU spokesman Olof Gill said: “State integrity, national sovereignty and non-violence are fundamental principles of international law.

However, Rutte said Trump “has a point” that China and Russia want the amount of energy in the Arctic.

“So, it is important that, as an Alliance – and this is what we agreed on in Davos – we work together to ensure that this does not happen,” he said.

Trump opposes a military response to Iran

Despite being praised by his host, Turkey’s Erdogan, the US president has used many of his social media appearances to taunt allies who he said would not help in a US-Israeli war against Iran.

“I am very disappointed with NATO,” he told reporters before Wednesday’s summit, adding that members “don’t want to help us with those who support terrorism, that is Iran”.

“Spain is a lost cause. We no longer want to do any business with Spain,” he said, telling Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut it”.

Trump continued to visit Spain throughout the day, declaring that Madrid “has been very bad”. He also chose the United Kingdom.

Unlike Spain, which he didn’t allow it US to use its bases against Iran, Downing Street said in March Washington could use its bases “for collective defense in the region”.

However, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has repeatedly said that the UK will don’t be drawn to war.

Trump called the UK’s approach “extraordinary”.

“This is not in the spirit of Winston Churchill,” Trump said.