NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday praised the joint U.S.-Israeli war effort against the Islamic Republic, but added that NATO itself will not get involved.
“It’s really important what the U.S. is doing here, together with Israel, because it is taking out, degrading the capacity of Iran to get its hands on nuclear capability, the ballistic missile capability,” Rutte was cited by Reuters as telling Germany’s ARD television in Brussels.
“There are absolutely no plans whatever for NATO to get dragged into this or being part of it, other than individual allies doing what they can to enable what the Americans are doing together with Israel,” he added.
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A British Royal Air Force facility in Cyprus was hit by an Iranian suicide drone overnight Sunday, causing limited damage but no casualties, according to Cypriot authorities and London’s Defense Ministry.
The United Kingdom is a member of NATO.
In the wake of the attack, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in parliament that his country will not join the attacks against Iran, stressing that his nation will focus on defensive actions, according to The Guardian.
“We were not involved in the initial strikes on Iran, and we will not join offensive action now, but in the face of Iran’s barrage of missiles and drones, we will protect our people in the region, and support the collective self-defense of our allies, because that is our duty to the British people,” he was quoted as saying.