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

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.
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