Skopje, 3 March 2026 (MIA) - NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stressed at a joint press conference Tuesday with President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova in Skopje, that NATO is not involved in the events in the Middle East, while adding that the alliance will defend every inch of its territory.

Quizzed about NATO’s position following the latest occurrences in the Middle East and the alliance’s response in case of a potential escalation, Rutte said NATO military commanders are working on the issue day in and day out in line with the alliance’s 360 degrees approach.

“NATO is not itself involved, but let's be absolutely clear as to what's happening here. Iran is close to getting its hands on a nuclear capability and on a ballistic missile capability, which is posing a threat not only to the region, the Middle East, including posing an existential threat to Israel, it is also posing a huge threat to us here in Europe. We also know that Iran, as an exporter of chaos, has been responsible over decades now for terrorist attacks, assassination attempts. I can tell you from my own experience in my own country, where members of the Iranian diaspora have been under threat from the Iranian regime, and I'm talking about the regime here, not about the Iranian people. The problem is with the regime,” Rutte said.

According to the NATO Secretary General, the military campaign led by the U.S. and Israel is aimed at degrading Iran’s nuclear capability. Rutte also noted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death, saying that only this year he was responsible for “thousands, potentially ten thousand people dying” during protests in January.

“So, I think we are all better off with him gone and with the nuclear and ballistic capability being beaten and degraded as it is, as we speak,” the Secretary General said. 

Asked if there is unity within the alliance over the campaign since Spain and Türkiye have voiced their opposition, Rutte said the campaign is led by the U.S. and Israel with allies providing support.

“This is clearly a campaign which is led by the US and Israel. And what we are seeing is that many allies are providing key enabling support. That's not being part of the campaign, but when it comes to access, logistics, for example, the Spanish Patriot system in Türkiye, defending already for ten years, key US interests are based there in Türkiye through the Patriot system. These are all examples of how as NATO collectively, but first of all, of course, the individual allies, where they have the optionality and the possibility to make bases available, etc., they are doing that. And I feel widespread support in Europe. I was on the phone with many leaders over the weekend and also early this week, and I clearly sensed that taking out nuclear capability, taking out the ballistic missile capability and also Khamenei gone, this is applauded by many of my colleagues in NATO,” the head of NATO told journalists.

At the joint press conference, President Siljanovska-Davkova said the NATO Secretary General’s presence in the country is a clear indicator that the alliance stands with North Macedonia and would defend all its members if they were to be attacked. 

Asked if North Macedonia would back a potential future NATO intervention in the Middle East, the President said discussions on any NATO activities are led within the alliance and not the statement of one representative of a member state.

“I would not be able to answer what might happen if NATO intervenes in the region where wars are happening, because we know that NATO protects the territory of its members. So, any conversation related to NATO activities is something that we could not have right now just by a statement of one representative of a member state of NATO, but within the NATO alliance together, that is the only way. And all steps of NATO related to activities will be established after a joint discussion,” Siljanovska-Davkova said. 

Photo: MIA