The United States is withdrawing 5,000 troops from NATO ally Germany, the Pentagon announced on Friday, as a rift over the Iran war widens between President Donald Trump and Europe.
Trump had threatened a drawdown in forces earlier this week after sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said on Monday the Iranians were humiliating the U.S. in talks to end the two-month-old war.
A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said recent German rhetoric had been "inappropriate and unhelpful."
"The president is rightly reacting to these counterproductive remarks," the official said.
The Pentagon said the withdrawal was expected to be completed over the next six to twelve months.
The official said the drawdown would bring U.S. troop levels in Europe back to roughly pre-2022 levels, before Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered a buildup by then President Joe Biden.
A brigade combat team now in Germany will be pulled out of the country and a long-range fires battalion that the Biden administration had planned to begin deploying to Germany later this year will no longer deploy, the official said.
Germany is the U.S. military's biggest basing location in Europe, with some 35,000 active-duty military personnel, and serves as a key training hub.
Trump has singled out Germany even as he has harshly criticised other NATO allies for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict.
The waterway, a chokepoint for global oil shipments, has remained virtually shut, causing market turmoil and unprecedented disruption in energy supplies.
Merz has said Germans and Europeans were not consulted before the U.S. and Israel started attacking Iran on 28 February, and that he had conveyed his scepticism about the conflict directly to Trump afterwards.
"The president has been very clear about his frustrations about our allies' rhetoric and failure to provide support for U.S. operations that benefit them," the senior Pentagon official said.
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Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 21st of July, covering the latest developments you need to know.
President Donald Trump said the United States will target Iran’s heavily fortified Pickaxe Mountain site “pretty soon” as he meets with Lebanese president Michel Aoun. Meanwhile, U.S. forces carried out a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran while Tehran continues to target Gulf countries.
Overnight U.S. strikes caused blackouts in southwestern Iran and hit the northwestern city of Tabriz for the first time. Separately, a U.S. soldier died in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian drone.
Azerbaijan has rejected suggestions it played any official role in reported private talks between former German politicians and Russian representatives in Baku, saying the meetings were organised independently.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier have discussed regional developments, transport connectivity, energy cooperation and the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace process during talks in Berlin.
Ukraine struck two more warehouses belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries on Wednesday, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, Tatyana Kim, said, in the latest wave of drone attacks targeting Russia’s consumer infrastructure.
Wildfires continue to spread across parts of southern Europe, forcing evacuations and placing increasing pressure on emergency services in France, Spain and Italy.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called on the U.S. government to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video released on Tuesday 21 July, describing the Israeli leader as a "war criminal."
European Union ambassadors will meet on Wednesday in an effort to reach a compromise with Greece and approve the bloc’s 21st package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, EU diplomats said.
India and China should address key economic issues, including fair market access, trade imbalances and supply chain stability, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said on Wednesday, as New Delhi continues efforts to rebuild ties with Beijing.
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