President Donald Trump again lashed out at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Truth Social Thursday, the president’s third post about Germany since Merz contended that the White House is being “humiliated” amid its ongoing war against Iran.
“The Chancellor of Germany should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (Where he has been totally ineffective!), and fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy, and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
On Wednesday, the president also announced that his administration was “studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany.” A final decision, he wrote, would come “over the next short period of time.”
Nearly 40,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed in Germany, the headquarters of U.S. European Command. Removing them could prove logistically difficult, while also disrupting long-held U.S. defense plans across Europe.
Merz’s critical assessment of the White House’s war in Iran came during a visit to a school in West Germany on Monday.
“The Iranians are clearly stronger than expected and the Americans clearly have no truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either,” he said.
Trump, who has long raged over Europe’s reluctance to assist in the Iran war effort, accused Merz of thinking “it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon” in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” he wrote. “If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago. No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!”