NATO chief praises Trump's Iran actions, highlights European support

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg lauded U.S. President Donald Trump's actions regarding Iran, asserting that the president's efforts prevented a significant global threat. Stoltenberg stated that Iran was on the verge of acquiring nuclear capabilities, which would have endangered the region and the entire world.

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First of all about Iran. I really want to make clear how important it is what you are doing on Iran. This is first of all about the nuclear capability Iran was basically getting its hands on. And that would have been a threat to the region, it would have been a threat to the whole world. This is a country which is exporting chaos, it is exporting terrorism. And they were very near to getting their hands on the nuclear capability. You have seen last week with the G7 all the leaders in the G7 applauding the fact that this nuclear capability has been degraded.

"This is about security, about safety," Stoltenberg said, framing Trump's actions as the "leader of the free world taking responsibility beyond the shores of the United States for the rest of the world." He noted that G7 leaders had applauded the U.S. for degrading Iran's nuclear capability, which he described as a country "exporting chaos" and "exporting terrorism."

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This is extremely important. And I just want to make this clear because sometimes people think why was this whole Iran thing going on. This is about security, about safety. This is the leader of the free world taking responsibility beyond the shores of the United States for the rest of the world. And this is what you did. I know there have been debates about whether your allies in Europe were with you enough. I just want to say one thing which is sometimes they were.

Addressing potential doubts about European support, Stoltenberg acknowledged Trump's expressed annoyance but pointed to the substantial involvement of European bases. He revealed that between 4,000 and 5,000 U.S. planes took off from European airfields during the six weeks of the conflict leading up to the ceasefire in mid-April. He specifically mentioned Bucharest, Romania, whose airport had to close to commercial traffic to accommodate U.S. tanker aircraft.

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But when you look at the numbers, four to five thousand US planes taking off from bases in Europe in the six weeks this war took place till the ceasefire took place mid April. Bucharest, the airport in Romania, having to close. It had to close for commercial traffic because they had to make sure that you were able to send the tanker aircraft up in the air. So this is what I know there have been isolated cases about which you are really disappointed. But generally speaking your European allies have been there with you. I really want to make that point. Four to five thousand US planes taking off from European airbases.

Stoltenberg also presented charts illustrating Trump's impact on NATO countries' defense spending. He claimed that European nations and Canada had increased their defense contributions by $1.2 trillion since Trump took office in 2017, a figure he termed "The Trump Trillion." He suggested this increased spending benefited U.S. jobs and companies.

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Now I want to take you if you stay here I go over to these boards here because I want to show you what this president was able to achieve. And I start with this chart. This chart is about the Trump Trillion. The Trump Trillion shows you the increase Europeans and Canadians are paying into defence since you took office in 2017. Trump 45 plus Trump 47. A total of extra spent by the Europeans and the Canadians of 1.2 trillion.