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US President Donald Trump<\/a> bashed\u00a0NATO\u00a0and appeared to renew his threats over Greenland<\/a> after a closed-door meeting with alliance chief Mark Rutte<\/a>, during which he was expected to discuss possibly leaving the pivotal security bloc.<\/p>\n Trump’s outrage at\u00a0NATO\u00a0allies over their failure to join in his war against Iran<\/a> had prompted fears he would seek to pull the United States out of the nearly eight-decade-old alliance.<\/p>\n However, in his first remarks after the meeting, he simply reiterated his frustration.<\/p>\n “NATO\u00a0WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,” he posted on Truth Social.<\/p>\n “REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!” he added, without any further explanation.<\/p>\n Before Trump launched his war on Iran, his threat to seize the vast Arctic<\/a> island from\u00a0NATO\u00a0ally Denmark<\/a> was a key issue roiling the alliance.<\/p>\n Read more<\/span>NATO anniversary overshadowed by Trump\u2019s threats to quit alliance<\/a><\/p>\n Rutte — the former Dutch premier dubbed the “Trump whisperer” for his skill in flattering the mercurial US leader — entered the West Wing through a side gate and their meeting was held behind closed doors.<\/p>\n “It was a very frank, it was a very open discussion,” Rutte later told CNN<\/a> in a televised interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n Asked multiple times if Trump had said if he would leave the alliance, Rutte did not answer directly.<\/p>\n White House<\/a> Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters ahead of the meeting that a possible withdrawal is “something the president has discussed, and I think it’s something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary General Rutte.”<\/p>\n The Wall Street<\/a> Journal meanwhile reported that Trump was alternatively looking at punishing some\u00a0NATO\u00a0members he believed were unhelpful during the conflict by moving US troops out of their countries.<\/p>\n The meeting came one day after the United States and Iran agreed to a fragile two-week ceasefire<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The US president has branded\u00a0NATO\u00a0a “paper tiger” for refusing to lead efforts to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz<\/a> and for limiting US forces from using bases on their territories.<\/p>\n Trump has lashed out at several leaders personally, lambasting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer as “no Winston Churchill<\/a>” and ridiculing Britain’s aircraft carriers as “toys.”<\/p>\n The plan reported by the Wall Street Journal would fall short of Trump’s oft-hinted threats to pull the United States out of\u00a0NATO\u00a0entirely — a move for which he would need the approval of Congress.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n