The Icelandic Prime Minister, Kristrun Frostadóttir, has stated this Friday her willingness for NATO to increase its military presence in the territory, although she has ruled out that this would imply a permanent settlement of allied forces.
"We are very open to the idea that there be more troops in Iceland as part of the NATO umbrella under which we find ourselves, so I don't think we have reached a point where we need a permanent presence," she said in an interview with the Bloomberg agency about the military presence on the island after the United States removed its troops in 2006.
In relation to this, and after the agreement reached in September between the United States and Denmark on the security framework on the island of Greenland, Frostadóttir has stressed that the Icelandic executive will analyze "the possibility of signing more agreements and strengthening cooperation with the United States."
The head of the government has admitted that the pressure exerted by Washington regarding Greenland turned out to be "difficult" for Reykjavik, while also positively assessing that the pact sealed "has increased the attention paid to the Arctic." "It showed that there are many things underway, not only in terms of security, but also with regard to investments," she said.