By Guardian-Richard Luscombe/Anna Betts/Tom Ambrose/Tue 24 Jun 2025 20.27 BST

US president arrives in Amsterdam, where he is expected to take victory lap over apparent conclusion of Israel-Iran conflict.

Trump casts doubt on commitment to defending Nato partners

Before landing in Amsterdam, Donald Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One, the president apparently casting doubt on the US commitment to defend Nato partners.

The Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said Tuesday that he had no doubt that Trump was committed to the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defense clause.

But according to Reuters, Trump told the press that there were “numerous” definitions to the cornerstone of the defense pact.

Asked if he was committed to Article 5, Trump responded: “I’m committed to saving lives. I’m committed to life and safety. And I’m going to give you an exact definition when I get there.”

White House denies intelligence report that Iran strikes were a flop

The White House has dismissed as “flat out wrong” a leaked intelligence report that claims US airstrikes at the weekend set back Iran’s nuclear program only “by months”.

The preliminary assessment by one US intelligence agency of the attacks on three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites, reported by CNN, indicates that the targets were not destroyed, as Donald Trump and other administration officials have insisted.

The assessment was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, the news outlet said, citing three unnamed sources. It is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command in the aftermath of the US strikes, CNN reported one of the sources as saying.

The assessment is ongoing and could change, CNN said.

In an address to the nation on Sunday night, Trump stated: “I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”

Two of the sources, however, said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed, and the third said the country’s centrifuges were largely “intact”.

“So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops,” the source said.

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the report as “a clear attempt to demean President Trump and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission”.

She said in a statement to CNN:

This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.

Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.

Trump expected to meet Zelenskyy while in Europe

Donald Trump is expected to meet Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his short stay in the Netherlands.

The two clashed in a fiery meeting at the White House in February, when US vice-president JD Vance belittled Zelenskyy for not thanking Trump for his support for Ukraine as it tried to repel Russia’s invasion; and Trump warned Ukraine’s leader he was “gambling with world war three”.

Ukraine is not part of Nato, so Zelenskyy will not take part in the Nato summit. But he could meet Trump as early as Tuesday night, sources said.

According to Reuters, Zelenskyy has said he wants to discuss with Trump substantial purchases of weaponry including Patriot missile defense systems as well as sanctions and other ways to put pressure on Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy warned European Nato members on Tuesday that they risked being attacked by Russia if it was not defeated in its three-year war with Ukraine.

“Russia is even planning new military operations on Nato territory,” he told a defense industry event on the sidelines of the summit.

Here’s Donald Trump descending the steps of Air Force One in Amsterdam on Wednesday after his arrival for Nato’s annual summit in the Netherlands.

He’s on his way to The Hague, where he will be greeted by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, and attend a private dinner they are hosting for Nato leaders.

While we wait for more news of Donald Trump’s arrival in Europe for the Nato summit in the Netherlands, the Guardian’s exclusive interview with Mark Rutte, secretary general of the alliance, is worth a read.

Rutte tells my colleagues Pjotr Sauer and Dan Sabbagh in The Hague that it was “not a difficult thing” to get members to agree to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP because of the rising threat from Russia – and stressed that Trump remained “absolutely” committed to supporting the alliance”.

Rutte said that all 32 Nato members had agreed to increase defense spending because “there is so much at stake” after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine:

The security situation has changed so much, and people know that when the call comes [in the event an attack on a Nato member] … you now need to deliver to the collective endeavor, what you promised, that you better have your stuff there.

Nato members willingly increasing defence spending amid rising threat from Russia, says Rutte

Trump arrives in Europe for annual Nato summit

Air Force One has landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, bringing Donald Trump to a Nato summit at The Hague at which he is expected to take a victory lap over the ceasefire and apparent conclusion of the short Iran-Israel war.

His arrival comes as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian announced the “end of the 12-day war imposed by Israel”, in a message to the nation carried by the official IRNA news agency, reported by AFP.

“Today, after the heroic resistance of our great nation, whose determination makes history, we are witnessing the establishment of a truce and the ending of this 12-day war imposed by the adventurism and provocation” of Israel, Pezeshkian said.

Trump will be formally greeted by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, and will attend a private dinner for Nato leaders later, according to his schedule.

The president’s trip will be brief: he will attend the summit on Wednesday and head straight back to Washington DC to rejoin efforts to persuade senators to pass his wide-ranging spending agenda known as the “big, beautiful bill” before the 4 July holiday.

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