Hundreds Protest NATO, Military Spending Ahead of The Hague Summit Amid Tensions with Iran

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied on Sunday in The Hague to protest against NATO, rising military expenditures, and a possible conflict with Iran—just two days before the alliance’s summit in the Dutch city.

“Let’s invest in peace and sustainable energy,” urged Belgian politician Jos d’Haese, addressing the crowd at a park near the summit venue.

Although initially organized to oppose NATO and the war in Gaza, the protest drew support from Iranians as well, many of whom carried signs reading “No Iran War.” The protest came just a day after the United States launched strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities.

“We are opposed to war. People want to live a peaceful life,” said 74-year-old Hossein Hamadani, an Iranian expatriate living in the Netherlands. “Look at the environment. Things are not good. So why do we spend money on war?”

The Netherlands is set to host the annual NATO summit starting Tuesday, with alliance leaders meeting on Wednesday. A key agenda item is a push—led by former U.S. President Donald Trump—for higher defense spending among member states.

Although most NATO countries have increased military budgets in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine over three years ago, nearly one-third still fall short of the alliance’s current 2% of GDP target.

A proposed new agreement to raise that threshold further appeared to be near finalization last week, until Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed opposition. In a letter to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Sánchez argued that committing 5% of GDP to defense spending would be “unreasonable and counterproductive.”

The high-stakes summit is being secured under “Operation Orange Shield,” the largest-ever Dutch security deployment for such an event. The effort includes thousands of police and military personnel, drone surveillance, no-fly zones, and advanced cybersecurity measures.