Belgian Prime Minister Says U.S. Strikes on Iran Are Not a NATO Issue

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said NATO could not reach agreement with the United States on military strikes against Iran and that the matter was not, in practice, a NATO issue. According to Jin10, De Wever made the remarks while attending a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, adding that the issue did not help NATO unity. De Wever said NATO’s collective defense clause in the North Atlantic Treaty requires members to defend one another when a member state is attacked, but it does not stipulate that all other members must participate when one party unilaterally decides to attack another country. He said this was not in line with NATO’s spirit and that expecting NATO allies to take part in such actions was “unreasonable.”