NATO chief Mark Rutte denies using embarrassing nickname for Donald Trump: ‘I didn’t call him daddy’

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte backtracked on his unflattering praises for Donald Trump as he claimed that he did not call the President "daddy".

The 53-year-old Chief made the remarks during the NATO summit in The Hague, where Trump compared the conflict between Iran and Israel to two children fighting in a school yard, according to the Daily Mail.

This came just a day after the president dropped an f-bomb on live TV while bashing the two nations for violating the ceasefire by dropping a barrage of missiles on each other.

“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f**k they're doing,” he said.

Why NATO chief called Trump ‘daddy’

On Wednesday, June 25, Mark Rutte sat down for a conversation with Trump at the NATO summit, where he asked the President about his crass comment on the Iran-Israel war.

"They've had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard," Trump told Rutte, adding, "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."

Rutte then chimed in, saying, "And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to [get them to] stop.”

Rutte’s comments raised eyebrows across the world, and he was forced to backtrack later in the day.

When pressed by reporters about his flattery of the US president, Rutte claimed, “The daddy thing, I didn't call [Trump] daddy, what I said, is that sometimes... In Europe, I hear sometimes countries saying, 'hey, Mark, will the US stay with us?’”

"And I said, 'That sounds a little bit like a small child asking his daddy, 'hey, are you still staying with the family'? So in that sense, I use daddy, not that I was calling President Trump daddy," the NATO boss added.

Elsewhere, Rutte gushed that Trump was a “good friend” and praised the prez for making the summit a success by “finally” getting Europe to boost military spending.

Donald Trump responds to Mark Rutte’s odd nickname

During Trump's frenetic press conference, which marked his final appearance at the summit, a reporter asked him how he felt about Mark Rutte referring to him as 'daddy' earlier in the day.

“No, he likes me, I think he likes me! If he doesn't, I'll let you know and I'll come back and I'll hit him hard OK?” Trump told the journalist.

"He did it very affectionately, though. 'Daddy, you're my daddy,'" the president said with a smirk.

Trump was accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who couldn't contain his laughter, bending down and giggling throughout the conference.

At some point in the conference, a journalist asked Trump if he viewed “your Nato allies as sort of children?”

“They're obviously listening to you and they're spending more, and are obviously appreciative of that. But do you think they can actually defend Europe on their own, without you?” the reporter asked.

To which, the Commander-in-Chief replied that he believed the European nations would “need a little help at the beginning.”

“And I think they'll be able to,' he continued. 'And I think they're going to remember this day and this is a big day for Nato, this is a very big day,” he added.