Five key takeaways from the NATO summit in Ankara

Published 8 July 2026 · europe

Trump dominates summit with anti-Europe and Iran screeds as NATO pledges to expand defence budgets and Ukraine support. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit

Trump dominates summit with anti-Europe and Iran screeds as NATO pledges to expand defence budgets and Ukraine support. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit has come to a close in Turkiye’s capital. The two-day conference arrived at a particularly tumultuous time for the alliance, following the United States and Israel’s three-month war on Iran, US President Donald Trump’s habitual denigrations of allies, and escalating fears in Europe over Russia’s military capabilities. As expected, NATO defence budgets and support for Ukraine topped the agenda, with the alliance pledging 70 billion euros ($80bn) in assistance to Kyiv and promising to keep expanding defence spending. “What this leads to is a NATO which is truly transformed,” said Secretary General Mark Rutte Wednesday. “If you look at it from the United States perspective, you will have European allies which are much more capable to, with the US, work together in NATO to keep one billion people safe.” Trump meanwhile hailed a “very successful” summit characterised by “tremendous unity”, while host Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the meetings “historic”. But the conference was also roiled by unexpected ruptures – namely Trump declaring that Washington’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tehran was “over” and asserting, after months of relative quiet on the topic, that the US should control Greenland. Here are five key takeaways from the summit Trump says MoU with Iran is ‘over’ The Iran war already loomed large over the summit as one of the primary causes of recent strains between the US and its allies. But the fragility of the ceasefire itself took centre stage after the US launched dozens of strikes on Iran early Wednesday, claiming retaliation for Tehran’s attacks on commercial ships the Strait of Hormuz. Trump told reporters Wednesday morning that the MoU with Tehran was “over” before firing off a series of insults. “They’re led by sick people. They’re vicious, violent people, and if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it,” the US president said.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.” In his final remarks later that day, however, Trump said he did not think the war would start in earnest again, adding that the US is “not looking for long-term” conflict. Back home in Washington, critics of the war on Iran were quick to accuse Trump of botching the talks. But NATO’s Rutte told reporters the strikes were “absolutely necessary”. “Iran is basically violating the ceasefire,” he said. “We see what happened yesterday with ships being attacked. I think it is totally crucial that the US forcefully reacts.” NATO’s final declaration called on Iran to respect freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, and reiterated that Iran must not be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon. Defence spending Under escalating pressure from Trump, NATO leaders agreed to increase defence spending and develop the alliance’s military-industrial capacities, including air and missile defence. The commitments included “more than $50 billion in new procurements”, the NATO declaration said, with an eye to “deep precision strike, integrated air and missile defence, uncrewed systems, cutting edge technologies, and intelligence capabilities”. It also cited “an interoperable transatlantic warfighting cloud and adopting powerful AI models”. Still, NATO data shows that only five of NATO’s 32 members are projected to meet the alliance’s goal of spending 3.5 percent of their gross domestic product on core defence in 2026. Members agreed to hike core spending up from 2 percent during a summit in The Hague last year, while also spending 1.5 percent of GDP on broader defence-related investments. Seventeen members are projected to hit the 1.5 percent goal. The average core defence expenditure in NATO Europe and Canada was 2.3 percent of GDP in 2025, which climbed to 2.53 so far in 2026. The US reported 3.17 percent. Trump said at the summit’s close that some countries are “making great progress”. “Many of these countries are very rich, by the way, we don’t have to feel sorry for them,” he said, adding that several “have truly answered the call”.