Welcome back to our second and final edition of the 2026 NATO summit Foreign PolicyStatus Report. US President Donald Trump is up from Ankara, but not on his new Qatar-gifted jet. Instead, he he said he will be “going home by common means,” by which he means to take the former Air Force One (and not Turkish Airlines seats 29D and 29E like your fellow SitRep writers).
Well, here’s what’s available for the day: Trump binds a uncertain NATO summit and Ukraine he gets a great (but mysterious) offer..
NATO allies announced billions in new defense investmentshe emphasized the hopeful message of the unity of the union, and insisted that Europe was making more progress in maintaining its own defense.
Then Trump came in like a wrecking ball.
Between his arrival at the NATO summit in Ankara on Tuesday afternoon and his departure on Wednesday evening, Trump revived his long-held interest in seizing Greenland from Denmark, said he would cut off all trade with Spain, and threatened to withdraw all US troops from Europe.
At the same time, the US also began to attack Iran again – following attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said he thought the ceasefire with Tehran was “over,” called Iran’s leaders “dirty,” and threatened to hit the country “hard again tonight” and possibly restore the naval blockade. Trump said talks with Iran could continue, but he believed it was a “waste of time.”
All of this pushed the Iran war into the spotlight at a summit that many NATO allies had hoped would focus on Ukraine and defense spending commitments.
“Trump was talking a lot about Iran,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told SitRep minutes after appearing at a meeting of North Atlantic Council leaders on Wednesday. “I think that, of course, publicly, it took the attention away from the NATO and Ukraine-Russia issues. Now everyone is talking about what’s going to happen in this Iran-US conflict.”
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys told SitRep that the alliance sent a “good message” about Ukraine to Ankara, including having Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the meeting and presenting a strong statement about the country’s contributions to the country’s Atlantic security. Ankara Conference Resolution. But Budrys also said that development in the Middle East was “of course” focusing on “Ukraine, and it has a cost.”
“There are certain hours that you can spend with issues, and if you spend with others it means less for Ukraine,” Budrys said, noting that this could translate into “less capacity” for Kyiv.
The United States did a new strike on Wednesday, a few hours after Trump left Ankara.
NATO (dis)unity. NATO went into this year’s summit hoping to show a sense of solidarity. At a press conference on Wednesday, NATO chief Mark Rutte said there was a “great sense of unity” at the Ankara summit, adding that the allies “welcomed President Trump’s leadership that is transforming this alliance and making it stronger.”
But the message was particularly unconvincing after Trump—the leader of NATO’s most powerful member—spent much of the meeting publicly attacking allies and airing a range of grievances, from progress on spending commitments to non-involvement in the Iran war.
On Wednesday, he called on the United States to “cut off all trade” with Spain, apparently for its refusal to commit to the alliance’s defense spending target, describing the country as a “lost cause” and “a bad partner in NATO.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez – who has criticized Trump over the Iran war – dismissed the US president’s remarks and insisted that relations between Washington and Madrid are “positive.”
Trump also used the meeting as an opportunity to emphasize his US interest in Greenland – a prospect that has angered NATO allies. “Greenland is very important to the United States, but not important to Denmark,” Trump said Wednesday. “We need it for the defense of the world, not just the United States.”
Greenland is an independent territory of Denmark, a founding member of NATO. of Trump disappointment with Greenland has been repeatedly faced by the Danish government. And indeed, the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who is here in Ankara, had to say again that the island “is not for sale.”
Other NATO members also spoke in support of Denmark. “The whole purpose of NATO is that we protect the territorial integrity and independence of our member states. Of course that also goes for the Kingdom of Denmark,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told SitRep.
However, Trump appeared more friendly in a private meeting with NATO allies. Barth Eide said Greenland was “not mentioned” at the meeting. “That’s a very important thing,” he said. “There were no references within the meeting, and that was good because this was not the topic of the NATO meeting; it was something that happened outside.”
And Trump finally praised the alliance during his press conference on Wednesday evening. “This was a very successful summit,” Trump said. But neither does Trump adopted a more positive tone on NATO at the end of last year’s summit in The Hague, and it is likely only a matter of time before he begins to influence the alliance and its members again. As NATO wraps up the Ankara summit, Trump’s unpredictability is set to become an ongoing challenge for the alliance. But some NATO members are still optimistic about its future.
Budrys, who in May told John that Trump is actually making NATO strongerhe said Wednesday that the alliance is “moving in a positive direction” and that “we have no doubts about the commitment of the United States” to its allies.
Ukraine may be overwhelmed by Iran, but Zelensky is unlikely to be overly concerned, as he leaves the meeting with a big win: Trump will grant Ukraine a license to develop Patriot air defense systems that Kyiv has been asking for for months. “This way you can’t complain that we don’t give them enough,” Trump said during Wednesday’s news conference with Zelensky.
There is still a lot of uncertainty about when and how Ukraine will get the license, with Trump admitting that “they haven’t informed the company yet.” But it is an important ability and a big change from Trump and Washington, motivated in part (like us he wrote yesterday) for Ukraine’s recent military success against Russia.
That success, many European officials told SitRep on Wednesday, is precisely why Ukraine needs to become a member of NATO.
“If you want to have NATO 3.0 led by Europe, which takes responsibility, then we need Ukraine,” Tsahkna said. “It is the largest military force that can take responsibility for these shortcomings that we have if the United States reduces its participation.” But Ukrainian MP Oleg Dunda said it didn’t matter if Ukraine was officially part of the alliance, telling SitRep that he was leaving the meeting with “the feeling that Ukraine is already part of NATO.”
Asked if the US war on Iran is distracting NATO from Ukraine, Dunda cited “the need to split NATO in two” between Washington and everyone else. “For the United States, the situation in Iran is more important than Ukraine at the moment,” he said. “But the European part of NATO is trying to distance itself from the Iranian situation, and for them, Ukraine is more important than Iran.”
But in the end, he said, it’s natural for Trump to come around. “Everyone wants to be side by side with a winner,” he said. “Even MAGA.”
NATO leaders pose for a family photo during the NATO summit at the Bestepe presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, July 8. Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
SitRep spoke with Omer Ileri, a member of parliament from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, about the country hosting the conference this year.
“The fact that the meeting is in Turkey this year, in my opinion, emphasizes the importance and importance of Turkey to NATO, but it also emphasizes the strategic position that Turkey has in international affairs in general,” Ileri said.
Turkey’s relationship with NATO has been complicated, given its ties to rivals Russia and Iran and its long-standing opposition to Russia. Finland and Sweden join union (although it eventually reversed that policy).
But Ileri said that Turkey’s “geographic location” and its fast-growing defense sector have been an asset to NATO as the alliance tries to build its capabilities. “The main thing of this summit, in my personal opinion, is that going forward, Turkey can be the basis of innovation of the alliance,” he said. “I would expect the weight and importance of Turkey to increase going forward in the alliance.”
Ileri declined to comment directly on whether Turkey would intervene and help mediate between the United States and Iran, but said “whatever happens in the world, sooner or later Turkey will be at the center of discussions and developments.”
“I’m not number 1 on TikTok, and all I do is talk about communism.”
-Trump in his press conference before leaving Ankara.
