NEW YORK, March 22. /TASS/. Some of NATO member countries are working on measures to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said.

"I know the President [of the US] was angry because he feels that European and other allies have been too slow. The good news here is that since Thursday, a group of 22 countries, most of them from NATO, but also Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the UAE and Bahrain, most of the other countries from NATO are coming together to implement his vision of making sure that the Strait of Hormuz is free, is opening up as soon as that is possible. So, we are now planning," he said in an interview with Fox News.

He also said that he maintains contacts with US leader Donald Trump, despite his criticism of NATO. "We talked several times this week," he noted.

Rutte said on March 2 that NATO did not plan to take part in the United States and Israel’s military operation against Iran. On Friday, the US president said that NATO isn’t coming to the aid of the US in reopening the Strait of Hormuz because the organization is"weak" and "they know that we will do it for them.".