Trump wraps up a NATO summit far chummier than the tense meetings of his first term

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday wrapped up participation in the annual NATO summit facing an alliance that had largely bent to his will.

Far from the tense meetings of Trump's first term, much of the annual summit in The Hague seemed catered to the impulses and worldviews of the Republican president whose “America First” foreign policy ethos downplays the importance and influence of multilateral coalitions.

After less than 24 hours on the ground in the Netherlands, Trump headed back to Washington having secured a major policy change he's pushed for since 2017: a significant boost in defense spending by other NATO countries whom the president has for years accused of freeloading off the United States. The focus on Ukraine was scaled back dramatically, with its invasion by Russia earning only a passing mention in the summit's official statement, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's profile at the gathering diminished.

Trump also sent NATO scattering for reassurances that the United States would remain committed to the alliance's mutual defense pledge, affirming on Wednesday that he would abide by Article 5 of the NATO treaty just a day after he rattled the 32-nation alliance by being equivocal about the pact.

“I stand with it. That’s why I’m here," Trump said when asked to clarify his stance on Article 5. "If I didn’t stand with it, I wouldn’t be here.”

At a news conference later Wednesday, Trump sounded reflective as he described feeling inspired by other NATO countries that were motivated to provide for their own defense by bolstering their own spending.

“They want to protect their country, and they need the United States, and without the United States, it’s not going to be the same,” Trump said, later adding: “I left here differently. I -- I left here saying, ‘These people really love their countries. It’s not a rip-off.’ And we are here to help them protect their country.”

He had mused just a day earlier that whether he abides by the treaty “depends on your definition” of Article 5.

The mutual praise in The Hague on Wednesday stands in stark contrast to Trump's previous harsh words for the alliance, whose value he had long questioned. It also reflects the efforts made by other world leaders during the early months of Trump's second term to approach the mercurial president using his own language of superlatives and flattery.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer showed up to the Oval Office in February to hand-deliver an invitation from King Charles III for a second state visit, which Starmer called “unprecedented.” Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has promised to “make the West great again,” echoing Trump’s campaign slogan. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte wrote in a message to “Mr. President, dear Donald” that his push for increased alliance defense spending would help “achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.”

The 32 leaders endorsed a final summit statement saying: “Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defense requirements as well as defense- and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations.”

“I've been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years,” Trump said earlier in the day as he met with Rutte, whose private message of praise the U.S. president posted on his Truth Social account.

Spain had already officially announced that it cannot meet the target, and others have voiced reservations. Trump sounded peeved by Spain's decision and said he'd have the country make up for it by paying higher tariffs to the United States as part of a trade deal.

Spain belongs to the European Union, the world’s largest trading bloc, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of all 27 member countries. They are not meant to negotiate trade deals individually.

Trump's turn at this year's summit came eight years after his NATO debut in 2017, a gathering that was perhaps most remembered by his shove of Dusko Markovic, the prime minister of Montenegro, as the U.S. president jostled toward the front of the pack of world leaders during a NATO headquarters tour.

But the atmosphere around Trump this week seemed far chummier than in past years.

The president was offered — and accepted — the chance to sleep Tuesday night at the Dutch royal palace. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, Trump said, were “beautiful people, great people, big, beautiful heart.”

Meanwhile, Rutte referred to Trump as a “daddy" who “has to sometimes use strong language” to stop a conflict between two warring entities — an analogy that the secretary-general used on the war between Israel and Iran.

“Doesn't he deserve some praise?" Rutte said later at his own news conference when asked whether his use of “daddy” for Trump made him appear weak.

Few may have gone as far as Rutte, who has maintained a good relationship with Trump since the U.S. president returned to office, but other world leaders have found different ways to flatter Trump.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, as he advocated for the increase in defense spending by NATO allies, riffed on Trump's campaign rally cry. “We should choose a motto: ‘Make NATO great again,’” he said.

Asked about Rutte’s behavior toward Trump, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “I didn’t find it obsequious."

“I expressed it a bit more soberly in my words, but of course it is and remains true that it was only this U.S. administration — in combination with the war in Ukraine — that prompted us to decide what we decided today," said Merz.

The Israel-Iran war and the recent U.S. strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities hung heavily over this year's gathering. After Trump arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday, The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that a U.S. intelligence report suggested in an early assessment that Iran's nuclear program had been set back only a few months by weekend strikes and was not “completely and fully obliterated,” as Trump had said.

But on Wednesday morning, Trump and other senior Cabinet officials vigorously pushed back on the assessment, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the administration was launching an investigation into who disclosed those findings to reporters.

This story has been corrected to show Trump stayed at the Dutch king’s palace, not the Danish king’s palace.

Superville reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman in London, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Mike Corder in The Hague contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks during a media conference at the end of the NATO summit as Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio, right, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth listen, in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks during a media conference at the end of the NATO summit as Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio, right, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth listen, in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump points as he speaks during a media conference at the end of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit of heads of state and government in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025.(Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo via AP)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, from left, President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose with NATO country leaders for a family photo during the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)

President Donald Trump, right, speaks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a group photo of NATO heads of state and government at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

President Donald Trump, center left, walks by Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, center front, prior to a group photo of NATO heads of state and government at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attend a plenary session at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

President Donald Trump poses with Netherland's King Willem Alexander and Netherland's Queen Maxima at the Paleis Huis den Bosch prior to attending a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Frank van Beek, Pool Photo via AP)

President Donald Trump shakes hands as he arrives for a plenary session at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump is greeted by Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, during an official welcome at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

President Donald Trump is greeted by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, right, during an official welcome at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump, center, attends a dinner of NATO heads of state and government at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Remko de Waal, Pool Photo via AP)

US President Donald Trump, left, talks with secretary general of NATO Mark Rutte, center, during a family photo at the 2025 NATO summit in The Hague, on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Haiyun Jiang/Pool Photo via AP)

One U.S. service member was rescued and at least one was missing after two U.S. military planes went down in separate incidents including the first shoot-down since the war began nearly five weeks ago.

It was the first time U.S. aircraft have been downed in the conflict and came just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran.”

One fighter jet was shot down in Iran, officials said. A U.S. crew member from that plane was rescued, but a second was missing, and a U.S. military search-and-rescue operation was underway.

Separately, Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defense forces. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation, said it was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down.

The war now entering its sixth week is destabilizing economies around the world as Iran responds to the U.S. and Israeli attacks by targeting the Gulf region's energy infrastructure and tightening its grip on oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Here is the latest:

U.S. and Israeli warplanes continued to pound Iran Saturday, hitting several targets including a petrochemical facility, Iranian media reported.

Iran's official English-language newspaper Tehran Times reported that an airstrike hit a facility belonging to Iran’s Agriculture Ministry in the western city of Mehran.

The newspaper said another air raid struck Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Zone in the southwestern Khuzestan province.

The semiofficial Fars news agency reported several explosions heard late Saturday morning in the facility.

Mehr, another semiofficial news agency, reported that the strikes hit four companies within the zone.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the veiled threat in a social media post late Friday, asking about how busy oil tanker and container ship traffic is through the strait.

The 20-mile (32-kilometer) strait links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and is one of the busiest chokepoints in global trade, with more than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships passing through it.

Iran has already greatly disrupted the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, sending fuel prices skyrocketing and jolting the world economy.

Disrupting transit through the Bab el-Madeb would force shipping firms to route their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, further hitting prices.

Israel’s rescue services said Saturday the man sustained glass shrapnel wounds after an Iranian missile hit the central city of Bnei Brak.

It wasn't clear if the glass shrapnel was caused by a direct strike or falling debris from an intercepted missile.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services said it was taking the man to the hospital.

The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency said Saturday that the two men who were hanged belonged to the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.

The agency said Abul-Hassan Montazer and Vahid Bani-Amirian were convicted of “being members of a terrorist group.”

This brings to six the total number of MEK members executed since the start of the war.

Activists and rights groups say Iran routinely holds closed-door trials in which defendants are unable to challenge the accusations they face.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that its air force struck ballistic and and anti-aircraft missile storage sites in Tehran.

It said the strikes a day earlier included weapons manufacture sites as well as military research and development facilities in the Iranian capital.

It said the strikes are part of an ongoing phase to increase damage to Iran's “core systems and foundations.”

Authorities in Dubai said the facades of two buildings were damaged by debris from intercepted drones, including one belonging to U.S. tech firm Oracle. No injuries were reported.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened to attack Oracle and 17 other U.S. companies after accusing them of being involved in “terrorist espionage” operations in Iran.

Previous Iranian drone strikes caused damage to three Amazon Web Services facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

As of Friday, 247 of the wounded were Army soldiers, 63 were Navy sailors, 19 were Marines and 36 were Air Force airmen, according to Pentagon data available online.

It is unclear if the data includes any of the service members involved in the downing of two combat aircraft reported Friday.

Most of the wounded — 200 — were also mid to senior enlisted troops, 85 were officers and 80 were junior enlisted service members.

The current death toll remains at 13 service members killed in combat.

Palestinian Muslims attend Friday prayers outside Jerusalem's Old City due to restrictions linked to the Iran war, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Tamara and her sister Amal color pictures on the floor as their parents, Sara and Ahmed, who fled their village of Khiyam in southern Lebanon due to Israeli bombardment, sit inside a tent used as a shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Mohammad Qubaisi, 53, with burn wounds from an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon undergoes surgery by Dr. Mohammed Ziara, left, and his team, at the Sidon Government Hospital in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

FILE - An F-15E Strike Eagle turns toward the Panamint range over Death Valley National Park, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)