Following their disagreement over the Iran conflict, US President Donald Trump has persisted in criticising German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, accusing him of “doing a terrible job” with his own nation.
Since Merz claimed that the Iranians were degrading the United States in negotiations to terminate the two-month-old war, Trump and Merz have been at odds over the situation.
During a ceremony at the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump claimed that Merz had failed to assist in ending the conflict in Ukraine and was having difficulties at home with immigration and energy concerns.
He said, “He’s doing a terrible job.” “And because Ukraine is in that mess, he has a big problem with them.”
In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump carried on his assault, saying Merz ought to “spend more time ending the war with Russia/Ukraine” and “fixing his broken Country.”
The Chancellor should “spend less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat,” the US President continued.
“The Iranian leadership, especially these so-called Revolutionary Guards, are humiliating an entire nation,” Merz stated at a lecture on Monday. I thus hope that this be resolved as soon as feasible.
“If I had known that it would continue like this for five or six weeks and get progressively worse, I would have told him even more emphatically,” Merz said, criticising Washington for lacking a clear exit strategy in the Iran war and reiterating that Germany had not been consulted prior to US-Israeli attacks.
During an event at the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump declared that Merz was “doing a terrible job.”
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump chastised the German leader, saying he “doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” after his assertion that “Merz thinks it’s ok for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Later on Wednesday, Merz attempted to defuse the intense public dispute with Trump by reiterating that their connection is still solid.
“In my opinion, the personal relationship between the American president and me is still excellent,” the German Chancellor stated during a press conference. “To put it in American English, we are still on good speaking terms.”
“We are suffering considerably in Germany and in Europe from the consequences of…” the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, citing rising energy costs and economic strain. He presented his recent criticism of the Iran war as a reaction to the conflict’s economic fallout rather than Trump’s leadership.
Germany initially supported the war on February 28, but as it has intensified, the government’s stance has hardened.
Berlin has only promised a limited role, such as minesweepers to help protect the Strait of Hormuz, once combat stops, rejecting Washington’s calls for transatlantic military action, stating that the situation “is not NATO’s war.”
“The United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time,” Trump stated on Truth Social, indicating that Washington is currently considering lowering the number of US troops in Germany as retaliation for a lack of support.
According to data from the US Defence Manpower Data Center (DMDC), as of December 2025, there were little over 68,000 active-duty military troops stationed permanently at US foreign sites in Europe.
Approximately 36,400 people, or more than half, are based in Germany. That is a small portion of the 250,000 US soldiers stationed there in 1985, prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.
Since then, Trump has extended the threat to include troops stationed in Spain and Italy.
When asked about the prospect of reducing the number of troops in the two nations, Trump responded on Thursday, “I mean, they haven’t exactly been on board,” adding, “Yeah, [I] probably will.” “Why shouldn’t I?” Italy has not provided any assistance. Spain has been terrible. Without a doubt.
Over 12,600 US military soldiers are on active service in Italy, and over 3,800 are in Spain.
Sitting in a GTK Boxer tank at the German army barracks in Munster, northern Germany, on April 30 are German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (L) and Army Inspector Christian Freuding.In the meantime, preparations for a series of new military strikes on Iran to force it to engage in peace talks were scheduled to be briefed to Trump on Thursday.
A plan for a “short and powerful” wave of strikes against Iran that would probably target vital infrastructure was scheduled to be presented by CENTCOM chief Admiral Brad Cooper.
This would be intended to either break the impasse in peace negotiations or deal Iran a fatal blow.
According to a source who spoke to Bloomberg, US Central Command is pushing for the deployment of Dark Eagle hypersonic missiles to the Middle East.
They seek a long-range solution that can hit Iranian ballistic missile launchers situated deep inside the nation.
The Dark Eagle is specifically designed for “long range conventional precision strike capability” against “time-sensitive and heavily defended targets,” with a reported range of 1,725 miles.
According to the source, if approved, this would be the first time the US has used a Dark Eagle hypersonic missile, of which there are just eight.
However, a senior Revolutionary Guard member in Iran cautioned that any US strike on Iran, no matter how small, would result in “long and painful strikes” on US positions in the region.
Iranian media reported Aerospace Force Commander Majid Mousavi as saying, “We’ve seen what happened to your regional bases, we will see the same thing happen to your warships.”
