NATO’s European members will look to sound out US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on troop cuts by Washington Friday, as they seek to smooth over President Donald Trump’s ire ahead of a July summit. The meeting of alliance foreign ministers in the Swedish city of Helsingborg comes after the US leader lashed out at Europe over its response to his war on Iran. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments.
US Navy official says Taiwan arm sales on ‘pause’ over Iran war
The acting US Navy secretary said Thursday that arm sales to Taiwan had been put on “pause” to ensure that the American military had sufficient munitions for its Iran operations.
Asked at a congressional hearing about the stalled $14 billion weapons purchase by Taiwan, acting secretary Hung Cao said that “right now we’re doing a pause in order to make sure we have the munitions we need for Epic Fury — which we have plenty.”
“But, we’re just making sure we have everything, then the foreign military sales will continue when the administration deems necessary.”
NATO allies to sound out US top diplomat after Trump Iran ire
NATO’s European members will look to sound out US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on troop cuts by Washington Friday, as they seek to smooth over President Donald Trump’s ire ahead of a July summit.
The meeting of alliance foreign ministers in the Swedish city of Helsingborg comes after the US leader lashed out at Europe over its response to his war on Iran — and threatened he could consider quitting NATO.
The 77-year-old alliance was rattled this month when Washington abruptly announced it was withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany after a spat between Trump and Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
While the Trump administration had long warned it would pull out forces from Europe to focus on other threats, a lack of coordination has heightened concern over Washington’s reliability in the face of a menacing Russia.
One of the goals in Helsingborg “is to see whether we’ve turned the page or not ahead of the Ankara summit,” a European diplomat said.
A group of Hezbollah-affiliated parliamentarians, state security officials, and allies of the militant group were hit with US sanctions Thursday, for allegedly seeking to preserve the Iran-backed group’s influence over Lebanese state institutions and obstruct disarmament efforts.
The Board of Peace‘s lead envoy for Gaza warned the UN Security Council on Thursday that the enclave’s current division could become permanent, leaving more than 2 million people crowded into less than half its territory, unless a ceasefire takes hold.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday renewed criticism of NATO for not supporting the US war on Iran, as he headed to alliance talks in Sweden.
