From menacing threats to comical misnomers: Donald Trump’s unlikely tale of love and darkness at Nato

Donald Trump holds a press conference at the 36th Nato summit in Ankara, Turkiye, on 8 July 2026. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Donald Trump holds a press conference at the 36th Nato summit in Ankara, Turkiye, on 8 July 2026. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images Analysis From menacing threats to comical misnomers: Donald Trump’s unlikely tale of love and darkness at Nato Robert Tait in Washington US president veers from praising the alliance to threatening Iran and confusing world leaders’ names Having arrived at Nato ’s annual summit under a familiar cloud of resentment and grievance, Donald Trump ’s farewell message on Wednesday was an unlikely tale of love and darkness. Addressing journalists in the presence of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy , the US president surprised everyone by directing his affections at an alliance he spent much of the previous day spewing bile over, citing the now well-worn gripe about Greenland, among others. “We just had our Nato meeting, and it was a great meeting,” he said. “There was a lot of love in that room today, a lot of unity. It couldn’t have gone much better.” It was quite the transformation from earlier, when the US president had sat beside Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, and spouted a well-rehearsed litany of complaints, including a perceived lack of support on the war with Iran , and Spain’s refusal to comply with new defence spending targets. Even Zelenskyy – once the butt of a notorious public browbeating in the Oval Office – seemed to have risen in Trump’s estimation. “We have some good stories to tell,” he said, talking up the prospects of a deal to end Ukraine’s four-and-a-half years war with Russia. “He has done an amazing job.” The unexpected comity was partly explained by Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, who – invited by Trump to describe the harmonious gathering – said: “Sir, all the Europeans attributed [to] you, saving Nato and they want to do what they’re supposed to do and you go right there.” Darkness descended when the subject turned to Iran, with which Trump recently agreed to a memorandum of understanding that ushered in a 60-day halt to hostilities. The US president declared the ceasefire all but over on Wednesday after US forces struck Iranian targets the previous day, asserting that Iran had violated the terms by attacking three vessels in the strategically vital strait of Hormuz, supposedly re-opened under the recent agreement. “We have a score to settle,” he said in the middle of an extended monologue that invoked past Iranian transgressions, including the manufacture of roadside bombs that killed and wounded numerous US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Having hailed his own deal just two weeks ago as necessary to prevent an economic disaster equalling the great depression if the strait of Hormuz remained closed, Trump now wrote off the possibility of agreement with Iran’s leadership – which he recently praised as more reasonable