THE HAGUE: Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday likened President Donald Trump to a `daddy` intervening in a schoolyard brawl after the US leader repeatedly berated Middle East foes Israel and Iran this week including with a profanity.

Talking to reporters alongside Rutte at a Nato alliance summit, Trump again berated Israel and Iran.

`They`ve had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard. You know, they fight like hell, you can`t stop them.

Let them fight for about 2-3 minutes, then it`s easy to stop them,` he said. In response, Rutte laughed and said: `And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get (them to) stop.

On Tuesday, after a ceasefire deal, Trump had raised eyebrows by saying Israel and Iran had been fighting `so long and so hard that they don`t know what the f*** they`re doing`.

With the 32-member Nato alliance endeavouring to placate Trump after complaints that it was over-reliant on US financial and military muscle, Rutte was asked if he might be over-flattering the US president.

`No, I don`t think so. I think it`s a bit of a question of taste,` he said, calling Trump a `good friend` for more than a decade and praising his role in `finally` persuading Europe to boost military spending.

`So doesn`t he deserve some praise?` Rutte asked, also noting Trump`s decision to bomb Iran`s nuclear sites.

`And when it comes to Iran, the fact that he took this decisive action, very targeted, to make sure that Iran would not be able to get his hands on a nuclear capability I think he deserves all the praise.

Iran branded Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte`s gushing note to President Donald Trump on US strikes targeting key nuclear sites as `disgraceful, despicable and irresponsible`.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Bagaei hit back, saying it was `disgraceful, despicable and irresponsible for #Nato`s SG to congratulate a `truly extraordinary` criminal act of aggression against a sovereign state`. Whoever supports a crime is regarded as complicit`, Bagaei said in a post on X.-Reuters