Joint press conference

ESPACE PRIVÉ PRESSE & MÉDIAS

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Dear Gordana,

Thank you very much for hosting me here, in beautiful Skopje, today.

North Macedonia is a staunch and valued NATO Ally.

Contributing in so many ways to our shared security.

Your troops serve alongside those from many other Allies as part of our Forward Land Forces in Bulgaria and Latvia.

Keeping our eastern flank secure with credible deterrence and defence.

I have the honour of meeting some of your service members at the Ilinden Barracks later today.

I welcome that North Macedonia devoted more than 2% of its GDP to defence spending in 2025. This is vital progress as Allies, including North Macedonia, prepare their credible path to reach 5% of defence spending by 2035, as you already mentioned.

This is no time to be complacent; all Allies have to do more.

Increasing investment in defence and ramping up production is key to reaching our agreed capability targets. And to fully resourcing the NATO plans, activities, and missions. The result is more security, more economic growth and more jobs.

I also commend North Macedonia’s steadfast support for Ukraine, including your valuable contributions to our command in Germany that provides Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine.

And to our PURL initiative, delivering vital military aid.

We must keep up the momentum. So that Ukraine can defend itself against Russian terror from the skies.

Hold the frontlines.

Help to sustain peace when the fighting stops.

And deter any future aggression from Russia.

From our eastern flank to your own neighbourhood, it is clear that we need to work together to support our shared security. And here North Macedonia plays a crucial role in safeguarding stability across the Western Balkans.

A region of, indeed, strategic important to our Alliance.

Our commitment to the region’s stability is steadfast. And we will not allow a security vacuum to emerge.

North Macedonia has long supported our KFOR peace-keeping mission in Kosovo. And for that I thank you.

KFOR continues to play a fundamental role in support of lasting security, for the benefit of all people living in Kosovo.

We will continue to ensure that KFOR remains robust and fit for purpose.

NATO is committed to defending every inch of Allied territory, wherever the challenge may come from.

We are just four months from our next NATO Summit in Ankara, this July.

Preparations are well under way.

In Ankara we must be able to demonstrate that Allies are making tangible progress to increase investment in defence, ramp up defence production, and continue our support for Ukraine.

I know we can count on North Macedonia to play its part.

Madam President, dear Gordana,

Thank you once again for hosting me today.

And for North Macedonia’s continued contribution to Euro-Atlantic security.

Again, thank you so much.

Question

(translated to English by interpreter) Mr. Rutte, what is the position of NATO with regard to the latest occurrences in the Middle East, as a NATO member that attacked Iran and Iran retaliated with attacking bases of member states of NATO? And what could NATO's answer be if the situation escalates?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

If I could start with answering that question, of course, NATO is not itself involved, but let's be absolutely clear-eyed to what's happening here. Iran is close to getting its hands on a nuclear capability and on a ballistic missile capability, which is posing a threat not only to the region, the Middle East, including posing an existential threat to Israel, it is also posing a huge threat to us here in Europe. We also know that Iran, as an exporter of chaos, has been responsible, over decades now, for terrorist attacks, assassination attempts. I can tell you from my own experience in my own country, where members of the Iranian diaspora have been under threat from the Iranian regime. And I'm talking about the regime here, not about Iranian people. The problem is with the regime.

Again, NATO is not involved. I can assure you that NATO will defend every inch of NATO territory. Our military commanders, our men and women in uniform, are day in, day out working on that, using the 360-degree approach, including any threat coming from terrorism – fighting terrorism also being a core task of NATO.

But degrading Iran's nuclear capability, degrading Iran's missile capability, the fact that Khamenei is now gone, who is responsible for, only this year, thousands, potentially 10,000 [of] people, dying because of the Iranian regime, when people were starting to protest against the regime in January. We have seen all that. So, I think we are all better off with him gone and with the nuclear and ballistic capability being beaten and degraded, as it is, as we speak.

Question

So you talked about NATO defending its Allies, but yesterday you said that NATO will not be joining the US-Israeli campaign in Iran. At the same time, there are mixed messages from the Allies. Turkey is not supporting the actions. Spain is not supporting the USA. President Donald Trump asked of NATO to join the operation, you refused. Is there unity among the Alliance?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

The President did not ask for NATO to join. So that's not true. This is clearly a campaign which is led by the US and Israel. And what we are seeing is that many Allies are providing key enabling support. That's not being part of the campaign, but when it comes to access, logistics, for example, the Spanish Patriot System in Türkiye, defending already for 10 years key US interests based there in Türkiye through the Patriot System. These are all examples of how as NATO collectively – but first of all, of course, the individual Allies, where they have the optionality and the possibility to make bases available, etc., they are doing that. And I feel widespread support in Europe. I was on the phone with many leaders over the weekend and also early this week, and I clearly sensed that taking out nuclear capability, taking out the ballistic missile capability, and also Khamenei gone, this is applauded by many of my colleagues in NATO. Thank you so much.