The military strikes carried out by the United States and Israel against Iran raise a number of legitimate concerns and risks, Latvia’s Defence Minister Andris Sprūds said on Wednesday in an interview with TV3.
The politician noted that Latvia, as a small country, has always supported a world order based on international norms. However, developments in Iran raise questions about whether all the activities there fully comply with those norms.
Sprūds emphasised that Latvia consistently wants Western support for Ukraine to continue, and that in this context the issue also concerns the defence of the international rules-based order — one that Russia has violated in Ukraine’s case.
The minister highlighted that it has been clear for some time that the United States’ international attention is not focused solely on Europe, and now it is evident that U.S. military activity will be concentrated on the Middle East. This means Latvia and Europe will have to mobilise even more strongly to support Ukraine.
Asked about US President Donald Trump’s recent rhetoric towards Spain and the United Kingdom, which he criticised for insufficient support for his Iran campaign, Sprūds acknowledged that some disagreements between NATO politicians are visible.
However, he does not believe that NATO as a whole would become weaker.
Sprūds said it is currently difficult to determine whether developments in Iran and the country’s retaliatory strikes across a wide range of states could lead to the activation of Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, as NATO leaders would first need to assess the severity of military incidents and whether they could be considered an attack on the alliance.
The politician added that the United States’ main objective at present appears to be the destruction of Iran’s military resources, and he does not see any intention by Washington to expand the conflict to the point where ground forces would have to be deployed in Iran.
Sprūds acknowledged that the security situation in the region is deteriorating, which also affects Latvian soldiers serving in small numbers on missions in Iraq, Lebanon and Israel, who now have to observe stricter security measures.
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