WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump revisited his grievances with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization over Greenland as he expressed fresh frustration with the security alliance’s stance on the Iran war.

“It all began with, if you want to know the truth, Greenland,” Trump said during a White House press conference Monday. “We want Greenland. They don’t want to give it to us. And I said, ‘bye, bye.’”

The U.S. president has long sought Greenland, a Danish territory. Earlier this year, relations between the U.S. and European allies frayed as Trump used veiled threats of military force and tariffs before saying he had reached a “framework” agreement over the island that addressed his national security concerns.

Trump continued to lash out at NATO on Monday, repeating that he was “very disappointed” in the alliance. Key member states declined to allow the U.S. to access military bases to carry out the initial Iran strikes and countries have balked at calls to effectively join the war by helping reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“I think it’s a mark on NATO that will never disappear, never disappear in my mind,” Trump said.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is slated to meet Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday in Washington in a bid to sooth the administrations concerns over the alliance. While Trump praised Rutte, with whom he has enjoyed a warm relationship, he indicated the alliance faced a difficult path to mending ties with the U.S.

“You know, they’re coming to see me on Wednesday. They’re going to say, ‘oh, we’ll do this. We’ll do that.’ Now they all of a sudden want to send things, you know, but they said it loud and clear at the beginning,” Trump said.

U.S. ties with NATO, long strained under Trump, have deteriorated over the Iran war. In an interview last week with the UK’s Telegraph newspaper, Trump said he was strongly considering pulling the U.S. out of the alliance. Under a change enacted under former President Joe Biden’s administration leaving NATO requires the approval of Congress, which Trump is unlikely to obtain.

The comments, nevertheless, alarmed U.S. allies, worried that even if Trump does not exit the alliance, he may still withhold support for the bloc, hampering efforts to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion.

Trump on Monday repeated his criticisms that NATO is a “paper tiger,” adding that “Putin’s not afraid of NATO; Putin’s afraid of us, very afraid of us.”

Trump has long questioned NATO’s relevance and pushed members to spend more on defense to ease demands on U.S. forces, including a pledge last year that they spend 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2035, with an additional 1.5% on security-related items.

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