By Robbie Gramer and Marcus Walker
ROME -- Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who met Italian leaders here on Friday, offered allies rankled by President Trump words of both support and warning.
The U.S.'s top diplomat said he was a longtime supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization -- partly because it allows the U.S. to project military power around the world. But the decision by some allies such as Spain to deny the U.S. use of bases for its war against Iran created "unnecessary dangers" for the U.S. and could lead to changes, he said.
"If one of the main reasons why the U.S. is in NATO is the ability to have forces deployed in Europe that we can project to other contingencies, and now that's no longer the case, at least when it comes to some NATO members, that's a problem and has to be examined," Rubio said.
He made his comments after fence-mending meetings with Pope Leo XIV and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, both of whom have come under fire from President Trump for criticizing the U.S. war in Iran.
Meloni said the meeting with Rubio was "a frank dialogue, between allies who defend their own national interests but who both know how precious Western unity is." Italian officials have said NATO is a defensive alliance, not a promise to follow the U.S. into overseas wars.
U.S. officials described Rubio's meetings in Rome and the Vatican as warm and cordial. The meetings were sprinkled with moments of levity: Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani presented Rubio with certificates of his ancestors' roots in Italy and Rubio cracked jokes in Spanish about needing to learn Italian.
Many European officials view Rubio as Trump's most effective diplomatic firefighter -- often for fires Trump himself starts -- as well as a top 2028 Republican presidential contender alongside Vice President JD Vance. But beyond the good will and amity that meetings with Rubio often bring, European officials say their governments know they are always only one Trump social-media post away from a new crisis again.
Rubio praised the role of the Catholic Church for its global efforts to promote peace and humanitarian aid, and called his meeting with Leo "very positive."
When asked whether Trump would tamp down his criticisms of Leo after the Vatican visit, Rubio said: "Why would I tell you what I'm going to recommend to the president? But beyond that, the president will always speak clearly about how he feels about the U.S. and U.S. policy."
The war with Iran dominated Rubio's visit to Italy this week, as the U.S. awaits a response from Tehran on its latest proposal to end the war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz waterway.
The Iran war has strained already rocky ties between the U.S. and Europe. Trump's frustration with allies for not sending forces to help open the Strait of Hormuz cuts to the heart of a deepening clash over the purpose of the Atlantic alliance.
While Spain blocked the U.S. from using local bases for the war, other European countries have facilitated the U.S. military operation against Iran. European officials say their countries continue to adhere to well-established agreements over how U.S. bases on their soil can be used, despite Trump's criticisms.
Despite the tensions, Rubio said there was broad global agreement that Iran should never be allowed to retain a nuclear weapon and that it should lift its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. He called on other countries to make a greater contribution to resolving the standoff with Iran.
"Are you going to normalize a country claiming to control an international waterway? Because if you normalize that, you set a precedent that's going to get repeated," Rubio said on Friday. "And if the answer is no, we don't want to normalize it, then you better have something more than just strongly worded statements to back it up."
Meloni received Rubio politely, with the customary Italian cheek kisses and brief hug, but without the demonstrative warmth she sometimes shows other dignitaries.
The right-wing Italian leader is ideologically close to MAGA on immigration and Western cultural identity, but tensions with Trump over foreign policy have dominated in recent months.
Trump has increasingly questioned whether the North Atlantic Treaty Organization serves American interests if Europe doesn't support U.S. military operations in the Middle East. The U.S.-led war with Iran is widely unpopular in Europe, where most governments view it as ill-advised.
European leaders have also criticized Trump's decision to wind down military aid to Ukraine amid the war against Russia, arguing that doing so is emboldening Moscow and prolonging the war. Trump officials insist their main goal is to stop the war by talking to both Russia and Ukraine, though mediation efforts have failed to yield any breakthroughs yet.
"While we're prepared to play whatever role we can to bring it to a peaceful diplomatic resolution, unfortunately, right now, those efforts have stagnated, but we always stand ready if those circumstances change, " Rubio said.
Trump last week ordered the withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany in reaction to German criticisms of his handling of Iran, and he threatened to pull forces out of Italy and Spain too. Last month he lambasted Meloni over her Iran stance, saying: "I thought she had courage, but I was wrong."
That broadside and Trump's unpopularity in Italy -- including with many of Meloni's right-wing voters -- have led the Italian premier to distance herself from the president, even as Rome continues to insist that the trans-Atlantic alliance is essential and irreplaceable.
"I'm convinced that Europe needs America, Italy needs America, but the United States also needs Europe and Italy," Tajani said on Friday. "Western unity is fundamental."
Withdrawing U.S. troops from Italy and Europe "is a choice that doesn't depend on me, and that I personally wouldn't agree with," Meloni said earlier this week. She said Italy has always upheld its NATO commitments, even when Italy's own interests weren't directly at stake, and that the U.S. hadn't presented any official request within NATO for allies to help with Iran.
Write to Robbie Gramer at robbie.gramer@wsj.com and Marcus Walker at Marcus.Walker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 08, 2026 12:11 ET (16:11 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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