President Donald Trump has feuded with European allies over their reluctance to step up support for war on Iran.
The United States military says it will pull about 5,000 troops out of Germany amid ongoing tensions with the key European ally concerning the US war against Iran.
The Pentagon announced the decision on Friday, days after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Iran was humiliating the US during the negotiations aimed at ending the war.
“We expect the withdrawal to be completed over the next six to twelve months,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
“This decision follows a thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the ground,” Parnell added.
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at European allies for not doing more to assist the US-Israel war on Iran, and had stated on Wednesday that he was thinking of pulling troops out of European countries deemed insufficiently supportive.
The US outlet Politico reported earlier this week that Trump’s threats to pull troops out of European countries caught the military by surprise, citing several anonymous defence officials and a congressional aide.
But German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, reacting to the news, said Germany had anticipated a US drawback and that Europeans must take greater responsibility for their own security.
“Germany is on the right track” in this regard, Pistorius said, pointing to the expansion of its armed forces, greater and faster procurement of equipment and the construction of infrastructure.
While European countries have been hesitant to commit their own forces to the US war on Iran, leaders such as Merz were initially hesitant to offer criticism of the US attacks, widely considered illegal under international law.
But criticism has mounted as the war sends shocks across the global economy due to serious disruptions to regional energy supply. Earlier this week, Merz compared the war to previous military quagmires such as the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It is, at the moment, a pretty tangled situation,” he said. “And it is costing us a great deal of money. This conflict, this war against Iran, has a direct impact on our economic output.”
Trump on Thursday said Merz should spend more time trying to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and less time “interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place”.