NATO summit underway in the Hague
NATO leaders have convened for a two-day summit in the Hague. The agenda of the US-led gathering is expected to revolve around the stand-off between Israel and Iran, Tehran's nuclear program, the Ukraine conflict, and an increase in member states' defense spending.
The summit is the first one to be attended by US President Donald Trump since he returned to office in January. The US leader has for years been pushing the bloc's members to ramp up their defense spending to as much as 5% of national GDP, while complaining that America is carrying the main burden.
While Ukraine's conflict with Russia is still expected to be on the summit agenda, multiple media reports have claimed that attention given to it would be drastically reduced compared to previous years. Trump has repeatedly clashed with Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky in public while being reluctant to commit new US aid to Kiev.
Trump signaled he would 'probably' meet Zelensky – who was invited to an informal dinner – on the sidelines of the summit. A Washington Post report claimed that NATO officials are trying to keep the two leaders apart as much as possible in public while being mindful of 'Trump's occasionally volcanic disdain for the Ukrainian leader.'
The Israel-Iran conflict is expected to loom large on the agenda following US strikes on Tehran's nuclear facilities and the announcement of a ceasefire between West Jerusalem and Tehran. While Trump has claimed that Iran's nuclear sites have been 'completely obliterated,' several US media outlets reported that Washington's airstrikes caused only limited and reversible damage.
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