At the Munich Security Conference, remarks from Vice President Mike Pence credited allies for stepping up their investments but demanded that all 29 NATO members hit a 2024 deadline to meet agreed-upon spending targets. He also noted that “the time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.
MUNICH— Vice President Mike Pence delivered a hardline message to allies here Saturday, accusing them of undermining U. S. sanctions against Iran and failing to live up to their NATO obligations in a speech that exposed deep divisions between Washington and Berlin.
On defense spending, Pence credited allies for stepping up their investments but demanded that all 29 NATO members hit a 2024 deadline to meet agreed-upon spending targets.
“When you hear President Trump say NATO allies have to live up to their promises, that is what we call being leader of the free world,” Pence said. “The truth is many of our NATO allies need to do more.”
Pence rattled off a list of priorities at the Munich Security Conference, ranging from opposition to a gas pipeline deal between Russia and Germany to a demand that Europe end business dealings with Tehran.
“The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal,” Pence said.
In Munich, Pence’s tough stance was at odds with priorities laid out minutes earlier by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who backs the nuclear agreement with Iran that Washington has abandoned. Merkel also called into question the value of a top Trump priority that calls on NATO members to dedicate 2 percent of GDP to military matters by 2024. Merkel says Germany will not meet the deadline and questioned the value of the spending goal.
“Many people are not satisfied with that,” Merkel said, but indicated no plan to satisfy Trump’s spending demands.
Merkel also indicated that things other than military spending such as development aid to countries in need should be counted in some way toward alliance security efforts.
