US President Donald Trump said today in Ankara that he is unhappy with NATO, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
"I am not happy with how NATO is responding on the issues of Greenland and Iran", he said during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Turkish capital. Before today's talks on the second day of the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump announced the end of the temporary truce with Iran.
"NATO has treated us unfairly - we are paying disproportionately. Greenland is a big problem for us," said the US head of state, who called Spain a "terrible NATO partner."
Regarding Spain, Trump said he had ordered US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant to stop all trade with Spain.
The US president has periodically expressed his dissatisfaction with Spain, which did not agree to NATO's defense spending target of 5 percent of gross domestic product set last year, Reuters notes, adding that Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez refused to provide the country's airspace and military bases for the purposes of US forces in the war with Iran.
"Spain did not agree to anything and we should not carry them on our backs," Trump told Rutte in Ankara today. "I do not want to do any trade with them! Got it?", he added.
"Consider it already decided. I won't talk to them at all. They're hopeless. They're bad people," Trump said, quoted by Reuters. "They make so much money off us. Now you'll see that their profits are going to go down. I don't want to do any business with them," the US president said. US forces have two bases in Spain - the naval "Rota" and the air force "Moron", Reuters points out.
Earlier, during the conversation with Rutte, Trump announced that the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, signed with the intention of ending the conflict, was no longer "in effect," adding that he didn't want to "have to do anything" with Tehran, Reuters reported.
The temporary ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, brokered by Pakistan, was intended to provide a 60-day window for talks to reach a lasting peace agreement. Indirect talks in Qatar last week, however, were inconclusive and the United States launched a new series of strikes on Iran on Monday.
"For me, it (the ceasefire - ed. note) is over. I don't want to deal with them", Trump said before talks on the second day of the NATO summit in Ankara.
"They are scum. They are sick people. They are run by sick people", the US president also said of Iran. "As far as I'm concerned, dealing with them is just a waste of time", he pointed out.