Trump Dominates NATO Summit with Iran Ceasefire Comments, Greenland Gripes

Michael Green

Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London.

Welcome to the Daily Open newsletter, with another special edition featuring more behind the scenes insight from the NATO Summit.

What you need to know today

"The world is taking you at your word: what happens next?"

That was CNBC presenter Steve Sedgwick's question to U.S. President Donald Trump during a press conference at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey.

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And it got to the heart of the matter. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump had said the ceasefire with Iran was "over," later saying he would attack the country again, and then he downplayed the nuclear threat and ruled out any need for American boots on the ground.

But overnight, U.S. forces launched another round of strikes.

"The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway," CENTCOM said in an X post.

Trump answered CNBC's question during his final press conference by saying, "I'll tell you what happens next. We're never going to see Iran have a nuclear weapon... the prices of oil are dropping like a rock now, they'll be up a little bit, and this will end very quickly. I've been right about everything."

This left markets on edge, with oil driving higher after spiking in Wednesday's session, while stocks across the globe struggle to find direction.

Let's hear more from behind the scenes...

— Leonie Kidd

Dispatch from NATO

ANKARA, TURKEY — We all know that the U.S. President has always had the capability to create a maelstrom of chaos at even the most orchestrated event.

But at this pivotal NATO summit here in Ankara, he has once again surpassed himself and has without doubt stolen the show in terms of headlines coming out of the Turkish capital.

NATO leaders expected brickbats over their defense spending commitments. They of course got that from Trump.

Spain in particular knew that the U.S. President would have tough words for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and that indeed transpired with Trump saying that he wanted to cease trade with Spain, which would be quite something given the $46 billion in bilateral trade between the two countries.

But the real curveballs for NATO's best-laid plans came in the form of a resumption of the President's gripes about Greenland sovereignty and then, out of the blue, his startling message to the world that the MOU with Iran was over, in effect ending the ceasefire.

On the former issue, the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said to me that Denmark would defend Greenland militarily against any foe and would invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter if anyone attacked, after the President had once again said the U.S. should control the territory.

And on Iran? Well, the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte immediately backed up Trump, saying it was "absolutely necessary" for the U.S. to respond forcefully to Iranian tanker strikes.

So what began as a meeting designed to address President Trump's major and justified gripe about spending morphed very quickly into chaos with the U.S. leader targeting countries within and outside NATO.

— Steve Sedgwick

And finally...

SpaceX stock closes below debut price at $148 in two-day slide after Nasdaq-100 inclusion

SpaceX stock closed at $148 on Wednesday, below the company's first trading price of $150 per share for a second day in a row.

Elon Musk's aerospace and defense contractor was included in the Nasdaq-100 index on Tuesday, less than a month after its stock market debut on June 12. The rapid inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 was due, in part, to the exchange's revised rules for new public companies to become part of that widely-tracked benchmark.

The SpaceX inclusion also required index funds and exchange-traded funds that are tied to the benchmark to buy shares of the company in order to match the new lineup.

— Lora Kolodny