President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as the rift widens between the United States and one of its closest allies in Europe over Berlin’s criticism of the war against Iran.
The US president on Thursday suggested to Merz that he should focus on German and European issues rather than commenting on the Middle East conflict.
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“The German Chancellor should spend more time ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (totally ineffective!), rebuilding broken nations, especially immigration and energy, and less time interfering with countries trying to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat,” Trump said in a social media post.
He added that the war with Iran has caused energy prices to rise around the world and “makes the world, including Germany, a safer place.”
The episode highlights the fraying impact of the Iran war on the U.S.-European alliance that President Trump jointly launched with Israel without consulting America’s NATO partners.
On Wednesday, President Trump said his administration was considering reducing the number of U.S. troops in Germany, where the U.S. military presence is seen as the center of the security umbrella for Europe.
Berlin said it was prepared for a possible reduction in the number of American troops stationed in the country, emphasizing cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“We are ready,” Foreign Minister Johan Wadeplu said, according to AFP news agency.
“We are closely discussing this matter in the spirit of trust in all NATO institutions and look forward to a decision from the American side on this matter.”
The feud began when Mertz, who had previously been closely aligned with the United States and Israel with a hawkish approach toward Iran, questioned U.S. strategy in the conflict.
“The problem with conflicts like this is always that you don’t just get in, you have to get out again. We saw that acutely for 20 years in Afghanistan, and we’ve seen it in Iraq,” he said.
He also suggested that the Trump administration is “humiliated” by Iran’s negotiating tactics and its refusal to negotiate directly before the terms of lifting the naval blockade on Iranian ports are met.
Trump rebuked Merz for his comments earlier this week, saying the German leader “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Berlin is trying to retract Merz’s comments. Foreign Minister Wadeplu told public broadcaster DW on Wednesday that the prime minister referred to Iran’s “bad behavior” at the meeting and echoed President Trump’s assessment that Iran was “reaching too far.”
“What we’re seeing now is that Iran is buying time and not really negotiating in the way it needs to,” Wadepour said.
Germany is one of Israel’s largest military suppliers. Berlin has also cracked down on the Palestinian rights movement in the country with what activists describe as arrests, censorship and profiling.
Last year, when the Israeli military began bombing Iran without provocation, Mertz said Israel was “doing the dirty work for all of us.”
Mertz emphasized his commitment to NATO and the U.S.-European alliance, despite President Trump’s disparaging remarks this week.
“Especially in this turbulent moment, we are following a clear compass, and that compass remains focused on a strong NATO and a reliable transatlantic partnership,” he said Thursday.
“As you know, this transatlantic partnership is particularly deep for us and for me personally.”
However, President Trump has expressed growing skepticism of NATO over its refusal to directly participate in the war against Iran or cooperate with the forced reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The US president has argued that war is necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
But Washington’s own intelligence secretary, Tulsi Gabbard, said last year that Iran is not building an intelligence service.
In the months before Israel and the United States began bombing Iran again on February 28, President Trump repeatedly said that the June 2025 US attack on Iranian facilities had “annihilated” Iran’s nuclear program.
