Trump Leaves NATO Summit Without Iran Commitments, Delivers Mixed Signals

The Iran war has reignited and the U.S. may need European allies more than ever, but President Donald Trump left a NATO summit in Turkey on Wednesday without announcing any new commitments from the defense alliance to assist with the conflict.

He instead delivered mixed signals about his feelings toward the military alliance throughout his two days in Ankara, claiming "tremendous unity" at one point while elsewhere slinging harsh words for other countries' hesitance to involve themselves in the Middle Eastern conflict.

"I'm not happy with NATO, because of the fact that they didn't want to help us with the no. 1 state sponsor of terror, that's Iran," he said during an appearance with NATO chief Mark Rutte. "They were unwilling to help us."

Trump left the summit with a trail of criticisms of his European counterparts at a time when their alliance may be of use in winding down the war with Iran that the U.S. escalated again during the summit. European heads of state publicly doled out polite words even as Trump, in bilateral meetings in front of the press and in a press conference, griped and left them hanging on whether the U.S. would come to their defense if they were attacked.

One geopolitics expert said the U.S. would greatly benefit from international help dealing with Iran.

"I think the president would do well" to try to get leaders in Europe and the Persian Gulf to "inflict some damage on the Iranian economy," Nicholas Burns, a Harvard University professor and former U.S. ambassador to NATO, said on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

The White House, asked by CNBC to share what NATO agreed to regarding Iran during the summit, did not immediately respond.

NATO has been a common target for Trump's withering words during both of his terms as president as he has pressed other member countries to boost their defense spending.

Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. does not actually need any help from NATO, but that he asked for assistance with Iran as a loyalty test.

"I was really testing, I wanted to see whether or not they'd be there," Trump said Wednesday with Rutte, noting he had spoken with multiple NATO members including Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

That narrative that NATO members failed his Iran "test" fits with Trump's sustained criticism that the alliance is a raw deal for the U.S., and that its members have shown insufficient loyalty to America.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to draw down the U.S. troop presence in Europe, and did so again this week — despite Russia's persistent threat against Ukraine and its other neighbors — and he has flirted with the possibility of pulling the U.S. out of the 77-year-old alliance entirely.

NATO leaders, especially Rutte, continue to speak flatteringly about Trump and the U.S., by far the most powerful member in the alliance. The U.S.'s continued buy-in is critical to the group's power, especially when it comes to the effectiveness of Article 5, its commitment that an attack on one state will be considered an attack on them all.

Rutte told Trump on Wednesday, "I know you are disappointed" on Iran.

He noted that thousands of U.S. planes took off from European airports in support of Trump's military offensive against Iran. "It was Europe as one big platform of power projection for the United States," he said.

When Trump was asked at the press conference whether European nations that have feuded with the U.S. could still count on its support if they were attacked, he didn't directly respond.

"They didn't help us. We didn't need the help, but if we would have wanted the help," he said.

Trump also raised the possibility of withdrawing all of the approximately 68,000 U.S. troops based in Europe, a figure that's already declined since Trump began his second term as president.

"We could remove all of our soldiers out of Europe," Trump said Tuesday, as he complained that his desire to obtain Greenland was rebuffed despite "all the money we spend to help them with Russia."