Donald Trump orders withdrawal of 5,000 US troops from Germany amid tensions over Iran war

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The United States will withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany in the next six to 12 months, the Pentagon said Friday, fulfilling President Donald Trump's threat as he clashes with the German leader over the US war with Iran. Trump had threatened to withdraw some troops from the NATO ally earlier this week after Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the US was being "humiliated" by the Iranian leadership and criticised Washington's lack of strategy in the war. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that the "decision follows a thorough review of the Department's force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theatre requirements and conditions on the ground."

The US has several major military facilities in Germany, including the headquarters for US European Command and US Africa Command, Ramstein Air Base, and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American hospital outside the United States. The number of troops leaving Germany would be 14 per cent of the 36,000 American service members stationed there. Nico Lange from the Center of European Policy Analysis told The Associated Press earlier this week that they primarily serve US interests, including "the projection of American power globally," rather than helping with the defence of Germany.

Trump ignored questions from reporters about the withdrawal on Friday as he boarded Air Force One in Ocala, Florida, following a rally to tout his economic agenda. Trump made a similar threat in his first term, saying he would pull about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 US troops who were then stationed in Germany, but he didn't start the process and Democratic President Joe Biden formally stopped the planned withdrawal soon after taking office in 2021. The mercurial US leader has mused for years about reducing the American military presence in Germany, and has railed against NATO for its refusal to assist Washington in the war, which began on Feb 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Trump wrote Wednesday on social media that the US was reviewing possible troop reductions in Germany, with a "determination" to be made soon. On Thursday, he was still thinking about Merz, posting that the German leader should "spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine" and "fixing his broken Country" than concerning himself with Iran. American allies in NATO have braced for a US troop withdrawal since just after the Trump administration took office, with Washington warning Europe would have to look after its own security, and that of Ukraine, in the future.

Depending on operations, exercises and troop rotations, around 80,000-100,000 U.S. personnel are usually stationed in Europe. NATO allies have expected for more than a year that US troops deployed after Russia launched its all-out war on Ukraine in February 2022 would be first to leave. Germany hosts several US military facilities, including the headquarters of its European and Africa commands, Ramstein Air Base and a medical centre in Landstuhl, where casualties from wars in places like Afghanistan and Iraq were treated. US nuclear missiles are also stationed in the country.

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