While speaking to reporters at NATO HQ in Brussels, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said Tuesday that NATO is under no obligation to join President Donald Trump's military push tied to Iran, drawing a sharp line between the alliance's collective-defense mission and Washington's current campaign in the Middle East.
In an interview with Euronews, the Finnish foreign minister said NATO's "raison d'être is the defence of Europe and the North Atlantic," and stressed that the alliance is "indeed a defensive alliance" that "won't be dragged into any war of choice." She added that "We of course have a collective interest - and I should say not only within NATO - but as the world, to have the oil flowing, to de-escalate, and that is certainly something we are calling for."
