{"id":3064,"date":"2026-04-30T08:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/?p=3064"},"modified":"2026-04-30T08:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:26:07","slug":"tensions-rise-in-western-alliance-as-trump-threatens-to-pull-us-troops-from-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/tensions-rise-in-western-alliance-as-trump-threatens-to-pull-us-troops-from-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"Tensions rise in Western alliance as Trump threatens to  pull US troops from Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>United States President Donald Trump, in a social media post  on Wednesday  announced he was \u201cstudying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany,\u201d in apparent retaliation for comments by Germany\u2019s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, that Iran has \u201chumiliated\u201d the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump&#8217;s criticism of Merz is part of a series of attacks on European leaders, especially since their refusal to support the The US\/Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignleft is-type-wp-embed is-provider-real-news-real-impact wp-block-embed-real-news-real-impact\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"OlrPeGd7Wx\"><a href=\"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/29\/trump-claims-german-chancellor-supports-nuclear-armed-iran-says-merz-doesnt-know-what-hes-talking-about\/\">Trump claims German chancellor supports nuclear-armed Iran, says Merz &#8216;doesn&#8217;t know what he&#8217;s talking about&#8217;<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Trump claims German chancellor supports nuclear-armed Iran, says Merz &#8216;doesn&#8217;t know what he&#8217;s talking about&#8217;&#8221; &#8212; REAL NEWS,REAL IMPACT\" src=\"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/29\/trump-claims-german-chancellor-supports-nuclear-armed-iran-says-merz-doesnt-know-what-hes-talking-about\/embed\/#?secret=UmECTdrKDD#?secret=OlrPeGd7Wx\" data-secret=\"OlrPeGd7Wx\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The US has a sizeable presence in Germany with about 35 000 American troops based there. It is also the centre for medical treatment, aircraft arming and maintenance, and the headquarters for American forces in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Merz, speaking at a high school assembly in western Germany, said: \u201cThe Americans obviously have no strategy&#8221;. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c&#8230;and the problem with such conflicts is always that you don\u2019t just have to go in, you also have to get out again. We saw that very painfully in Afghanistan for 20 years. We saw that in Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo this situation is, as I said, at least ill-considered, and I do not see at the moment what strategic exit the Americans are choosing now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The New York Times reported Trump reacted with fury, suggesting anew that he was reconsidering America\u2019s participation in the alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> \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  Trump wrote in a social media post.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both economically, and otherwise!\u201d, Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier, he had criticised European leaders as &#8220;weak&#8221; and Europe as a &#8220;decaying group of nations&#8221;. The Pentagon reportedly was considering options to expel Spain from the Nato for not supporting the war on Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the realisation that the US is no longer a &#8220;reliable&#8221; partner, European countries, including the United Kingdom, have started exploring an European defence mechanism. An alliance started in 1949, is beginning to fray.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United States President Donald Trump, in a social media post on Wednesday announced he was \u201cstudying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany,\u201d in apparent retaliation for comments by Germany\u2019s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, that Iran has \u201chumiliated\u201d the United States. Trump&#8217;s criticism of Merz is part of a series of attacks on European [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,205,1,168],"tags":[84,85,428,373,432,276,23,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-3064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-must-reads","8":"category-secondary-story","9":"category-uncategorized","10":"category-world","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-germany","14":"tag-macron","15":"tag-merz","16":"tag-nato","17":"tag-trump","18":"tag-united-states"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3064"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3078,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3064\/revisions\/3078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}