NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, responding to reports Sunday that Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward the joint U.S.-U.K. Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, said Iran is "very close" to being able to hit European targets.

The attempted strike, which he would not confirm or deny, is more evidence that President Donald Trump's moves to take out Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear capability are crucial, said Rutte.

"We have seen with North Korea that if we negotiate for too long, you might pass the moment when you can still get things done," Rutte told CBS News' "Face the Nation."

"North Korea now has the nuclear capability," he continued. "If Iran would have the nuclear capability, including together with missile capability, it would be a direct threat to Israel, and to the region, and to Europe and to the stability in the world."

He added that he hopes Americans will back Trump, as "he is doing this to make the whole world safer."

Rutte said he could not confirm or deny the Diego Garcia missile report, but said that Iran is "very close" to having the capability of striking European targets such as Berlin, Paris, or Rome.

"That's exactly why I feel in Europe that most politicians, it resonates with them what the president is doing here, which is taking out and degrading Iran's capability to be again, an exporter of chaos, sheer chaos to the region and to the world," said Rutte.

Meanwhile, Trump last week referred to NATO as a "paper tiger" because the organization does not want to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Rutte said he was in several conversations last week with Trump.

"We had the U.S. for weeks planning for '[Operation] Epic Fury,'" said Rutte. "For reasons of security and safety, they couldn't share with European allies and allies around the world and partner countries what they were doing."

However, since Thursday, he continued, "22 countries, most of them NATO [members], but also Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain, the UAE, have come together to basically answer three questions: What do we need? When do we need it? And where do we need it?"

Those questions will be considered as allies work to guarantee the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, said Rutte.

However, he would not discuss what was talked about in the meetings with allies.

"I can assure you that, of course, the U.K. is [at the] forefront of leading this effort of the 22 countries on the leadership of Prime Minister [Keir] Starmer," said Rutte. "I have been in a phone call this week with him, and President [Emmanuel] Macron, and this has led to 22 countries now signing up to this initiative."

Meanwhile, Rutte said he has faith that Trump's complaints about NATO won't harm the alliance.

"I know that we always come together," he said. "It was under President Trump's leadership that we had the extremely successful summit in The Hague, where we agreed to spend 5% of our GDP on defense and therefore equalizing for the first time since [President Dwight D.] Eisenhower."

Rutte added that he understands Trump's frustrations, but said that it "takes some time."

"I also ask for some understanding because nations had to prepare for this, not knowing and for good reason, about the initial attack on Iran," said Rutte.

However, the countries are "coming together to make sure that we can secure the Strait of Hormuz," he said.

Rutte also noted concerns that the U.S. decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil to slow rising prices could benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I know he is with his team, with [Trump's son-in-law] Jared Kushner and [U.S. special envoy] Steve Witkoff and [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio, they are always working with the Ukrainians to put maximum pressure on the Russians to come to a deal," he said.

"He wants to get a deal done. And we have to make sure that we also take this to the Russians to make sure that they are willing to play ball."

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