{"id":34475,"date":"2026-07-08T19:45:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T23:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/trump-wraps-up-nato-summit-in-ankara-with-iran-threats-ukraine-promise\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T19:45:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T23:45:25","slug":"trump-wraps-up-nato-summit-in-ankara-with-iran-threats-ukraine-promise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/trump-wraps-up-nato-summit-in-ankara-with-iran-threats-ukraine-promise\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Wraps Up NATO Summit in Ankara With Iran Threats, Ukraine Promise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome back to our second and final 2026 NATO summit edition of Foreign Policy<\/em>\u2019s Situation Report. U.S. President Donald Trump is wheels up from Ankara, but not on his shiny new Qatari-gifted airplane. Instead, he said<\/a> he will be \u201cgoing home by normal methods,\u201d by which he means taking an older Air Force One plane<\/a> (and not seats 29D and 29E of Turkish Airlines like your SitRep co-authors).<\/p>\n

Alright, here\u2019s what\u2019s on tap for the day: Trump<\/strong> wraps up an erratic NATO summit<\/strong> and Ukraine<\/strong> gets a big (but vague) offer<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

NATO allies announced billions in new defense investments, hammered home hopeful messages of alliance unity, and stressed that Europe was making more progress in taking care of its own defense.<\/p>\n

Then Trump came in like a wrecking ball.<\/p>\n

Between his arrival at the NATO summit in Ankara on Tuesday afternoon and his departure on Wednesday evening, Trump resurfaced his long-standing desire to take over Greenland from Denmark, said he would cut off all trade with Spain, and threatened to pull all U.S. troops out of Europe.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the U.S. also started bombing Iran again\u2014following attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said he thinks the cease-fire with Tehran is \u201cover,\u201d called Iranian leaders \u201cscum,\u201d and threatened to hit the country \u201chard again tonight\u201d as well as potentially reimpose the naval blockade. Trump said talks with Iran could continue, but he believes they\u2019re a \u201cwaste of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of this pushed the Iran war into the spotlight at a summit that many NATO allies had hoped would focus on Ukraine and defense spending commitments.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump was talking about Iran a lot,\u201d Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told SitRep minutes after emerging from the North Atlantic Council leaders\u2019 meeting on Wednesday. \u201cI think that, of course, publicly, it turned away the attention from NATO matters and Ukraine-Russia. Now everybody is talking about what is going to happen with this Iran-U.S. [conflict].\u201d<\/p>\n

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys told SitRep that the alliance sent \u201cgood messages\u201d regarding Ukraine in Ankara, including by having Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the gathering and featuring a strong statement about the country\u2019s contributions to trans-Atlantic security in the Ankara Summit Declaration. But Budrys also said that developments in the Middle East were \u201cof course\u201d taking \u201cattention from Ukraine, and it has a cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain hours that you can spend with the issues, and if you\u2019re spending with the others it means less for Ukraine,\u201d Budrys said, noting that this can translate into \u201cless capabilities\u201d for Kyiv.<\/p>\n

The U.S. conducted fresh strikes<\/a> on Iran on Wednesday, just hours after Trump departed Ankara.<\/p>\n

NATO (dis)unity. <\/strong>NATO entered this year\u2019s summit hoping to project a sense of solidarity. In a press conference on Wednesday, NATO chief Mark Rutte said there was a \u201cgreat sense of unity\u201d at the Ankara summit, adding that allies \u201cwarmly welcomed President Trump\u2019s leadership that is transforming this alliance and making it stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that message wasn\u2019t especially convincing after Trump\u2014the leader of the most powerful NATO member\u2014spent much of the summit publicly attacking allies and airing various grievances, ranging from progress on spending commitments to a lack of involvement in the Iran war.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, he called for the United States to \u201ccut off all trade\u201d with Spain, seemingly over its refusal to commit to the alliance\u2019s defense spending target, describing the country as a \u201cwasted cause\u201d and \u201ca terrible partner in NATO.\u201d Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2014who has criticized Trump over the Iran war\u2014downplayed the U.S. president\u2019s remarks and insisted that relations between Washington and Madrid are \u201cpositive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also used the summit as an opportunity to reiterate his desire for the United States to acquire Greenland\u2014an aspiration that has enraged NATO allies. \u201cGreenland is very important to the United States, but it\u2019s not important to Denmark,\u201d Trump said Wednesday. \u201cWe need it for the protection of the world, not just the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a founding member of NATO. Trump\u2019s obsession with Greenland has repeatedly been met with pushback by the Danish government. And sure enough, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who is here in Ankara, had to state once again that the island is \u201cnot for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other NATO members also spoke out in support of Denmark. \u201cThe whole purpose of NATO is that we defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our member states. That of course also goes for the Kingdom of Denmark,\u201d Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told SitRep.<\/p>\n

However, Trump was apparently more amicable in a closed-door meeting with NATO allies. Barth Eide said there was \u201cno mention\u201d of Greenland in the meeting. \u201cThat\u2019s a very important point,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was no reference whatsoever inside the meeting, and that was good because then this did not become a theme of the NATO meeting; it was something that happened outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Trump ultimately praised the alliance during his press conference on Wednesday evening. \u201cThis was a tremendously successful summit,\u201d Trump said. But Trump also adopted a more positive tone on NATO at the tail end of last year\u2019s summit in The Hague, and it\u2019s likely only a matter of time before he begins lobbing insults at the alliance and its members again. As NATO wraps up the Ankara summit, Trump\u2019s unpredictability is poised to be an ongoing existential challenge for the alliance. But some NATO members are still optimistic about its future.<\/p>\n

Budrys, who in May told John that Trump is actually making NATO stronger, said on Wednesday that the alliance is \u201cmoving in a good direction\u201d and that \u201cwe are not doubting U.S. commitment\u201d to its allies.<\/p>\n\n

Ukraine may have been somewhat overshadowed by Iran, but Zelensky is unlikely to be overly bothered, as he\u2019s walking away from the summit with a big win: Trump is going to give Ukraine a license to make the Patriot air defense systems that Kyiv has been requesting for months. \u201cThis way you can\u2019t complain that we\u2019re not giving them enough,\u201d Trump said during a Wednesday news conference with Zelensky.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still a lot of uncertainty around when and how Ukraine will get that license, with Trump admitting that they \u201chaven\u2019t informed the company of that yet.\u201d But it\u2019s a significant capability and a significant shift from Trump and Washington, spurred on in part (as we wrote yesterday) by Ukraine\u2019s recent military success against Russia.<\/p>\n

That success, multiple European officials told SitRep on Wednesday, is exactly why Ukraine needs to become a NATO member.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to have NATO 3.0 led by Europe, which is taking responsibility, then we need Ukraine in,\u201d Tsahkna said. \u201cIt\u2019s the largest military power that can take responsibility for these gaps we have if the U.S. is actually decreasing participation.\u201d But Ukrainian lawmaker Oleg Dunda said it doesn\u2019t matter whether Ukraine is officially part of the alliance, telling SitRep that he is walking away from the summit with \u201cfeelings that Ukraine is a part of NATO already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if the U.S. war against Iran was distracting NATO from Ukraine, Dunda cited a \u201cneed to separate NATO into two parts\u201d between Washington and everyone else. \u201cFor the United States, the situation in Iran is more crucial than Ukraine for now,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the European part of NATO is trying to distance itself from the Iranian situation, and for them, Ukraine is more crucial than Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

But ultimately, he said, it is natural for Trump to come around. \u201cEveryone wants to stand shoulder to shoulder with the winner,\u201d he said. \u201cEven MAGA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n NATO leaders are seen gathering in Ankara.<\/p>\n

NATO leaders pose for a family photo during the NATO summit at the Bestepe presidential compound in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8. Ludovic Marin\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n\n

SitRep spoke to Omer Ileri, a member of parliament from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s ruling Justice and Development Party, about the country\u2019s hosting of the summit this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the summit is in Turkey this year is in my opinion underlining the importance and significance of Turkey for NATO, but it is also emphasizing the strategic position Turkey holds in global affairs in general,\u201d Ileri said.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s relationship with NATO has been complicated, given its ties with adversaries Russia and Iran and its longtime opposition to Finland and Sweden joining the alliance (though it ultimately reversed that policy).<\/p>\n

But Ileri said that Turkey\u2019s \u201cgeopolitical location\u201d and its rapidly growing defense industry have become assets to NATO as the alliance attempts to build up its capabilities. \u201cThe main takeaway of this summit, in my personal opinion, is that going forward, Turkey is potentially becoming the innovation powerhouse of the alliance,\u201d he said. \u201cI would expect the weight and importance of Turkey to increase going forward in the alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ileri declined to directly address whether Turkey would intervene and help mediate between the United States and Iran, but he said that \u201cwhatever happens globally, sooner or later Turkey will be right at the center of the discussions and the developments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m no. 1 on TikTok, and all I do is talk about communism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Trump in his rambling press conference before leaving Ankara.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to our second and final 2026 NATO summit edition of Foreign Policy\u2019s Situation Report. U.S. President Donald Trump is wheels up from Ankara, but not on his shiny new Qatari-gifted airplane. 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