President Trump is holding a news conference Wednesday to cap off the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, amid a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
The president has been meeting with other world leaders on the sidelines of the summit, amid cautious optimism that the ceasefire the Trump administration brokered will hold for now. The 12-day conflict left 28 people dead in Israel and hundreds in Iran.
At the summit, Mr. Trump said Iran’s enrichment efforts were set back “basically decades.” However, an initial classified assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency estimated the strikes set back Tehran’s nuclear program by a matter of months, according to three sources familiar with its contents.
Regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, Mr. Trump expressed optimism and said there’s been “great progress.”
“I think great progress is being made on Gaza,” Mr. Trump said. “I think because of this attack that we made, I think we’re going to have some very good news.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who complimented the president on his efforts to boost other countries’ defense spending and on his efforts in the Middle East.
“You are a man of strength and also a man of peace,” Rutte told Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy said they discussed “how to achieve a ceasefire and a real peace deal.”
“We appreciate the attention and the readiness to help bring peace close,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding, “Details will follow.”
NATO members, with the exceptions of Spain and Slovakia, have agreed to a dramatic increase in their defense spending, to 5% of GDP, a goal pressed by Mr. Trump, though the U.S. defense spending is short of that target. Before leaving for the summit, Mr. Trump said the U.S. shouldn’t have to reach that target, since it’s contributed so much to NATO in the past.
It’s a whirlwind trip for Mr. Trump, who arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday and is scheduled to fly back to Washington on Wednesday.
Haley Ott
contributed to this report.
