Iran reacts to Rutte’s remarks on NATO support for US operations

Iran has condemned remarks by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that alliance members actively assisted the United States during operations against Iran, describing the comments as an admission of violations of international law and the UN Charter.

“Italy and Romania are explicitly named by NATO's SG to have participated in the aggression against Iran,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on X.

He said the statement amounted to “a clear and damning admission of NATO’s active complicity in an unlawful war of aggression against a sovereign UN Member State — a flagrant violation of peremptory norms of international law and the core principles of the UN Charter.”

This is a clear and damning admission of NATO’s active complicity in an unlawful war of aggression against a sovereign UN Member State — a flagrant violation of peremptory norms of international law and the core principles of the UN Charter.

The Organization and its individual… pic.twitter.com/q2OPKVrSkM

— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) June 25, 2026

Speaking alongside US President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, June 24, Rutte said that Washington’s NATO allies had provided significant logistical support to American forces during the armed conflict with Iran.

He stated that, in the broader picture, NATO allies had played a supportive role.

At the same time, the NATO chief acknowledged that there had been isolated incidents in which certain countries declined to provide military airfields for US operations.

As an example of European support, Rutte noted that earlier this year Bucharest’s airport temporarily reduced civilian flight operations in order to prioritise servicing US military aircraft.

By Jeyhun Aghazada