The NATO chief Mark Rutte has reiterated the alliance’s commitment to collective defence while urging restraint to prevent further regional escalation.
Rutte emphasised that NATO remains vigilant and is closely monitoring developments; allies are coordinating intelligence and defensive postures.
Rutte insisted that de-escalation remains a priority to avoid a broader regional war.
He also underlined that member states have the right to defend their forces and interests, while stressing the importance of maintaining stability across Europe and the wider Middle East.
The comments come amid heightened military activity involving Iran, the United States, and Israel, as well as increased defensive readiness among NATO allies in the region.
Mark Rutte has made new statements regarding the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East. The NATO chief reiterated the alliance’s commitment to collective defence while urging caution to prevent further regional escalation.
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Rutte emphasised that NATO is vigilant and closely monitoring developments, with allies coordinating intelligence and defensive strategies. He stressed that de-escalation is a priority to avoid a broader regional conflict.
Additionally, Rutte highlighted that member states have the right to defend their forces and interests, while also underlining the importance of maintaining stability in Europe and the wider Middle East. His comments come in light of increased military activity involving Iran, the United States, and Israel, as well as a heightened state of defensive readiness among NATO allies in the region.
“It’s really important what the US is doing here, together with Israel, because it is taking out, degrading the capacity of Iran to get its hands on nuclear capability, the ballistic missile capability,” he told Germany’s ARD television.
“There are absolutely no plans whatever for NATO to get dragged into this or being part of it, other than individual allies doing what they can to enable what the Americans are doing together with Israel.”
Meanwhile Sir Keir Starmer said that the UK “does not believe in regime change from the skies.”
Starmer told MPs in the House of Commons: “That decision was deliberate. We believe that the best way forward for the region and for the world is a negotiated settlement in which Iran agrees to give up any aspirations to develop a nuclear weapon, and ceases its destabilising activity across the region.
“That has been the long-standing position of successive British governments.
“President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest. That is what I’ve done, and I stand by it.”
Donald Trump told The Telegraph on Monday that he is “very disappointed” with Starmer for refusing to back Washington’s decision to attack Iran.
The US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a detailed press conference on Monday, he said: “media outlets and political left screaming ‘endless wars,’ stop.
“This is not Iraq. This is not endless.
“Our generation knows better, and so does this president.”
He then aimed at Starmer, who has refused to help the US by denying them access to use RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia air bases, and he also praised leaders who have supported the war on Iran.
Hegseth said, “unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.”
“We didn’t start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it,” Hegseth told reporters.
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