Merz Denies Iran Spat Drove 5,000-Troop US Pullout From Germany
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- Friedrich Merz denied that his public criticism of U.S. Iran policy triggered the Pentagon's Friday announcement to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, calling the two events unconnected.
- Merz said he must accept that President Donald Trump holds different views on some issues to keep working with the U.S. within NATO, while reaffirming his commitment to the transatlantic alliance.
- Trump had labeled Merz an "ineffectual" leader after Merz said the U.S. was being "embarrassed" in Iran talks and questioned whether Trump had a Middle East exit plan.
- Germany also appears to have lost a Biden-era plan to station a U.S. battalion armed with long-range Tomahawk missiles on its soil — a deployment Berlin had lobbied for as a powerful deterrent against Russia.
- Merz downplayed the Tomahawk reversal by arguing Trump had never committed to it and that the U.S. likely lacks enough of those weapons to hand over anyway.
Why it matters: Germany simultaneously loses 5,000 U.S. personnel from its largest European base and sees a Tomahawk missile deterrent plan shelved, forcing Merz to publicly absorb a personal insult from Trump to preserve NATO working relations — a trade-off he is framing as pragmatic alliance management rather than retaliation.
