Five percent of gross domestic product, the new defense spending floor Trump is pressing NATO members to adopt, is the formal agenda item at the two-day Ankara summit on Tuesday and Wednesday. Every NATO member the administration named withheld, restricted, or delayed support for Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-led military campaign against Iran. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker confirmed countermeasures are under consideration for allies that miss the 5% target, and said countries contributing more could receive priority in defense procurement and greater access to U.S. leadership.
Allied conduct during Operation Epic Fury
| Ally | Position |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Initially denied base access for strikes; reversed course after Iranian attacks escalated |
| Spain | Denied territory and airspace for combat; PM Pedro Sánchez called the campaign "illegal, absurd and cruel" |
| Italy | Restricted U.S. flights from Italian bases to logistical support only, not combat |
| Germany | Provided a logistics hub; declined to publicly endorse the operation |
Whitaker said Trump remains "disappointed" by allies that withheld base and overflight rights and by the political statements issued around the launch of Epic Fury. Several allies later joined maritime security operations to restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. That partial shift did not resolve the underlying dispute, per administration officials.
Two scorecards running at once
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Ian Brzezinski identified "two scorecards on the table" at Ankara: NATO's traditional deterrence framework against Russia and Trump's separate accounting of which allies supported the United States during the Iran campaign.
Trump framed his attendance accordingly. He told reporters at the White House on June 24 that he came largely because of his relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He had said on March 6: "If they don't pay, I'm not going to defend them."
Whitaker pushed the burden-sharing definition past GDP percentages. Some allies have "exquisite capabilities," he said, while others cannot contribute meaningfully to a large-scale U.S.-led operation. Those doing more should receive advantages; the administration will weigh consequences for those doing less.
Torey Taussig, director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, placed the summit's entry point plainly: "We have low expectations because of the issues not on the agenda, but that are driving the atmospherics." Trump's last public word on Spain before flying to Ankara: "There's a problem with Spain."