NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte has called US president Donald Trump "Daddy" while discussing escalating tensions in the Middle East.
As allied leaders gathered in the Netherlands for a historic summit that could unite them around a new defence spending pledge or widen divisions among the 32 member countries, the pair held a press conference in which Trump compared Israel and Iran to "kids fighting" and Rutte called Trump "Daddy".
Trump said: "They are not going to be fighting each other, they've had it. They've had a big fight, like two kids in a school yard. They fight like hell, you can't stop them. Let them fight for about two, three minutes, then it's easier to stop them."
Rutte responds with, "then Daddy has to sometimes use strong language," and laughs.
Trump previously said Israel and Iran "don’t know what the f**k they’re doing".
Mark Rutte: "Daddy sometimes has to use strong language."pic.twitter.com/HyfF0dDpcx
— Bastian Brauns (@BastianBrauns) June 25, 2025
The exchange came after the US president, while flying aboard Air Force One en route to The Hague, published a screenshot of a private message from Rutte saying: “Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe and the world. You will achieved something NO American president in decades could get done.”
Rutte also wrote: “Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win.”
Nato confirmed that he sent the message.
After the conference, the allies endorsed a goal of spending 5% of their gross domestic product on their security by 2035, as demanded for by Trump.
Ahead of the two-day meeting, Britain, France and Germany committed to the 5% goal. Nations closer to the borders of Ukraine, Russia and its ally Belarus had previously pledged to do so.
Trump’s first appearance at Nato since returning to the White House was supposed to centre on how the US secured the historic military spending pledge from others in the security alliance — effectively bending it to its will.
But in the spotlight instead is Trump’s decision to strike three nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran that the administration says eroded Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, as well as the president’s sudden announcement that Israel and Iran had reached a “complete and total ceasefire”.
Ukraine has also suffered as a result of that conflict. It has created a need for weapons and ammunition that Kyiv desperately wants, and shifted the world’s attention away.
Past Nato summits have focused almost entirely on the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
Still, Rutte insists it remains a vital issue for Nato, and that the allies can manage more than one conflict.