Donald Trump devoted much of his address at the NATO summit to expressing his frustration with Iran, telling allies that the United States is no longer interested in pursuing regime change in Tehran.
Later, following a meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Trump told reporters that if the United States had had a different president, Israel would no longer exist today.
Trump was particularly critical of Iran.
“Iran violates the agreement every day. We have lost 2,000 people in 47 years. No other president had done anything,” he said.
He added: “These people are lying. There is an agreement and they say there is nothing. This is 99.99 per cent what we are doing. We discussed the denuclearisation of Iran. Everyone can confirm it. We have ended eight wars. We will see what happens.”
At the same time, Trump did not rule out another attack on Iran.
“We will hit them hard tonight,” he said.
Commenting on Wednesday's strikes against Iran, he added:
“I said not to hit oil facilities. Maybe it will happen today. They would deserve strikes on oil facilities because they are not respecting the agreement. I said yes, let them attend Khamenei's funeral, and they started launching missiles and hit three ships in Hormuz.”
The US president also said he may reinstate a naval blockade on Iran following attacks on a number of commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump also addressed the war in Ukraine during a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, describing it as an “ugly war” and insisting that both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin want it to end.
“President Zelenskyy and President Putin want it to end,” Trump said.
He added that Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries had altered the dynamics of the conflict.
“Ukraine attacked Russian refineries. Its ability to penetrate deep into Russia has changed the dynamics of the war. Russia is struggling. It must negotiate an end to the war. I think Putin's conditions for ending the war are changing.”
“It is a shame this war happened. Both sides want the war to end. Lives are being lost in Ukraine, and Russia has invested enormous effort,” Trump said.
The US president also revealed that Washington is discussing the possibility of allowing Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missiles.
In separate remarks on Wednesday morning, Trump praised Recep Tayyip Erdoğan while launching a fierce attack on Spain, accusing Madrid of failing to meet its NATO obligations and announcing that he had ordered an end to all trade relations with the country.
Speaking at a press conference in Ankara alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump said:
“Spain agrees to nothing and you should not be carrying them.”
He went on to describe Spain as “a terrible partner.”
“I want nothing to do with Spain. Stop all trade with Spain, please, including visits.”
