Rutte Says U.S. Strikes in Iran Were Necessary

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated today in Ankara, on the second day of the Alliance leaders’ summit, that the latest U.S. strikes on Iran were necessary, according to the American news agency AP.

The United States (U.S.) struck more than 80 targets in Iran in response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which triggered this morning’s attacks by Tehran on U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

„It is absolutely crucial that the U.S. responds firmly. I believe that they (the U.S. strikes) were absolutely necessary because when there is a ceasefire and Iran is almost openly violating it, we saw what happened yesterday with the vessels that were hit,“ Rutte told reporters on the second day of the Alliance summit.

The NATO Secretary General added that he expects NATO allies to reaffirm „that Iran must absolutely never acquire nuclear capability.“

According to Alliance diplomats, this statement aligns with the content of the final declaration of the NATO summit, which is expected to be adopted at the end of the summit, reported the British agency Reuters.

„The principle of freedom of navigation must be respected so that the Strait of Hormuz can once again be fully open,“ Rutte said.

In addition to the strikes, Washington has also reimposed economic sanctions on Iranian oil.

Both sides are accusing each other of violating the memorandum of understanding signed on June 17 to end the war that began on February 28 with a U.S.-Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic.

That agreement included the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, and whose closure destabilized the global economy and caused a sharp rise in prices. The memorandum also entailed the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil.

Three ships were attacked yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz, the British maritime security agency UKMTO reported on Tuesday. Qatar and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for two of the attacks.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s ideological army, announced early this morning that it struck 85 targets at U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.