NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that alliance member countries approve of U.S. actions against Iran, but they keep the possibility of invoking Article 5 of the collective defense treaty confidential. He expressed this position in an interview, emphasizing the importance of maintaining strategic ambiguity on this issue.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Strategy of Ambiguity Regarding Article 5
Article 5 of the Washington Treaty stipulates that an attack on one NATO member is considered an attack on all alliance participants. However, as Mark Rutte emphasized, the alliance does not disclose the exact circumstances under which this article may be activated. According to him, this is necessary so that potential adversaries cannot exploit this information for their own purposes.
“For serious reasons, we will always remain very vague about when Article 5 is triggered… We maintain this ambiguity because we do not want our enemies, our adversaries, to learn more about it… We can and will defend every inch of NATO territory,” he said.
Support from the U.S. and Positions of European Countries
Mark Rutte emphasized that NATO is not a participant in the military operation against Iran, but there is strong support among member countries for U.S. initiatives aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities. Despite some European leaders publicly criticizing Washington’s actions, the overall position of the alliance is in solidarity with the U.S.
The Secretary General also highlighted that NATO countries actively support their partners in the Middle East. In his view, this should strengthen regional security and promote stability.
On February 28, the U.S. and Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran. In response, Tehran struck Israeli and U.S. military targets in the Persian Gulf. In addition to military objectives, civilian sites in various countries in the region were also targeted.
On the same day, the leaders of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom—Friedrich Merz, Emmanuel Macron, and Keir Starmer—stated that their countries did not participate in military actions against Iran. They emphasized the need to resume the negotiation process and called on the Iranian leadership to resolve the conflict solely through diplomatic means.