Pete Hegseth accuses Nato countries of ‘free riding’ in combative address

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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a combative address accusing NATO countries of 'free riding' on defense spending and threatened to reduce US military presence in countries with low contributions. The speech was aimed at pushing European allies to increase military budgets amid ongoing regional security concerns.

US defence secretary addresses allies in latest attempt to get Europe to raise military budgets Pete Hegseth has announced a review of US military presence across Europe, in a combative address to Nato allies where he threatened to cut force numbers in countries spending the least on defence. The US defence secretary, speaking at a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, accused some countries of “free riding” and others of being shameful for not allowing their airbases to be used by US jets bombing Iran in the spring. Continue reading...