Earlier this week, after Friedrich Merz, German chancellor, declared that the United States was being “humiliated” by Iran, President Donald Trump warned that he would reduce the number of US military personnel assigned to strengthen his security.
“The Iranians are undoubtedly very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skilled at not negotiating, allowing the Americans to travel to Islamabad and then leave without any result.
An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. Therefore, I hope this ends as soon as possible,” said the German official.
True to his words this Saturday, Trump declared that there would be more than 5,000 soldiers who will begin to leave German territory in the coming months.
“We are going to reduce drastically, and we are going to cut much more than 5,000,” he told reporters from West Palm Shoreline, Florida.
The figure raised by the New York magnate would represent approximately 15% of the 36,436 soldiers displaced in military bases established in Germany.
From the president’s perspective, the contribution of said nation to the defense of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is not proportional to the amount demanded by his administration. and that is the reason for taking away a proportion of US troops.
Given the position taken by Trump, the Republican presidents of the Armed Services committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate issued a statement through which they recognized their concern about reducing security in the territory of one of the most important allies of the United States in Europe and asked the head of the nation to relocate the soldiers who will leave Germany to other areas of Europe.
“Rather than completely withdrawing forces from the continent, it is in the interest of the United States to maintain a strong deterrence capability in Europe by moving these 5,000 American troops east.
“These allies have made substantial investments to house US troops, reducing costs to the American taxpayer and, at the same time, strengthening NATO’s front line to help deter the start of a much more costly conflict,” part of the document states.
Trump’s reaction is also based on the lack of support coming from Berlin, because although US troops are allowed to use their military infrastructure, such as air bases, the possibility of using them as platforms to launch direct offensive attacks on Iran is restricted, a limitation that is uncomfortable for the strategy proposed by Donald Trump.
Keep reading:
• Trump warns German chancellor not to interfere in war in Iran
• Germany’s chancellor says Iran is “humiliating” the United States
• Trump responds to Merz with an attack on the economy: “No wonder Germany is doing so badly”
