{"id":9027,"date":"2026-04-30T16:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/9027\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T16:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:59:18","slug":"trump-threatens-to-pull-some-us-troops-from-germany-amid-spat-over-iran-war-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/9027\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump threatens to pull some US troops from Germany amid spat over Iran war"},"content":{"rendered":"

A spat between the US and Germany<\/a> has reached new heights, with US President Donald Trump threatening to pull some American troops from the country amid disagreements about the US-led campaign in Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time,\u201d Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

It comes as Berlin and Washington have been at odds over the US\u2019 approach to the war with Iran<\/a>. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz drew Trump\u2019s wrath this week for comments<\/a> he made on Monday, in which he said the US was being \u201chumiliated\u201d by Iran and criticized the administration for not having an effective strategy to end the war.<\/p>\n

There are 36,436 active-duty US military personnel permanently stationed in Germany, according to data from the US Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) released in December 2025 \u2013 a number markedly higher than in other European countries. Trump previously threatened to reduce troop numbers in the country in 2020, during his first tenure in office and while Angela Merkel held the German chancellorship.<\/p>\n

Friction between European leaders and the Trump administration has intensified due to the US-Israeli war, which the US launched without notifying most NATO allies. Germany was informed in advance of the initial strikes, a government spokesperson told the Associated Press. European countries have refused to become directly involved<\/a> in the conflict, instead emphasizing the importance of finding a diplomatic solution. Trump in return has threatened to reconsider the US\u2019 NATO membership<\/a> and has referred to the military alliance as a \u201cpaper tiger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like some other European countries, Germany has offered limited military support to the US, most notably allowing the use of its military infrastructure, such as air bases, for operations related to the conflict \u2014 thought it has not permitted these to be used as staging grounds for direct offensive strikes.<\/p>\n

Merz has also pledged further German assistance under the condition the conflict moves to a post-war phase. This could include participation in a possible international stabilization mission.<\/p>\n

To that effect, Berlin recently announced a naval minesweeper will be deployed to the Mediterranean Sea in preparation for efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, once a lasting end to hostilities is reached. This move followed calls from Trump for allies to send warships and minesweepers to help secure the strait. Germany is part of a coalition led by Britain and France seeking to ensure the safe passage of vessels through the crucial waterway. These actions have however failed to satisfy Trump.<\/p>\n

Merz\u2019s attitude towards the war has also shifted. In the hours following the beginning of the campaign, he insisted \u201cthis is not the moment to lecture allies.\u201d His tone altered following a March visit to the US, when he said he could not \u201csee any clear strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The disagreement between Berlin and Washington deepened further on Monday, when Merz starkly criticized US attempts to extricate itself from a war it entered without laying out clear objectives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole affair is ill-considered to say the least,\u201d he said, while emphasizing Berlin\u2019s desire for the war to end as soon as possible. \u201cAt the moment, I cannot see what strategic exit the Americans are now opting for.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Trump lashed out at Merz directly in a Truth Social post, writing, \u201cthe Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it\u2019s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about!\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cNo wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!\u201d<\/p>\n

Merz, as with other European allies, has previously acknowledged the threat posed by Tehran and has maintained Iran must not possess nuclear weapons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The German chancellor has subsequently sought to play down the feud with his US counterpart and strike a more conciliatory tone, insisting Wednesday that his relationship with Trump is \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my perspective, my personal relationship with the US president remains good,\u201d Merz told reporters, while highlighting the negative impact the war is having on Germany\u2019s economy and energy supplies.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, in the wake of Trump\u2019s announcement of potentially pulling some troops from Germany, Merz again reiterated how important the transatlantic alliance is to Berlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, this transatlantic partnership is particularly close to our hearts \u2013 and to mine personally,\u201d he told reporters at a military base in Munster.<\/p>\n

Since Trump\u2019s return to office, German officials had largely managed to stay out of his firing line and avoided the blistering criticisms directed at many other traditional allies. Amid the recent fallout, this appears to have changed dramatically.<\/p>\n

CNN\u2019s Lizzie McBride and Issy Ronald contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A spat between the US and Germany has reached new heights, with US President Donald Trump threatening to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18,8517,479,7918,393,587,5,253,8676,8675],"class_list":{"0":"post-9027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-defense-manpower-data-center","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-european-countries","12":"tag-friedrich-merz","13":"tag-german-chancellor","14":"tag-germany","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-nato-allies","17":"tag-ramstein-air-base"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}