US President Donald Trump has not ruled out the possibility of withdrawing US troops from Italy and Spain due to the disagreement of the leadership of these countries with the war against Iran.
“I might consider it, why not,” Trump said, answering reporters’ questions at the White House on 30 April. – Italy has not helped us in any way, and Spain has shown itself to be terrible, just terrible.”
The day before, the U.S. leader spoke out about a similar troop drawdown in Germany and said he would make a decision “as soon as possible.”
At the end of 2025, there were about 12 and a half thousand US troops in Italy and more than 3,800 in Spain. In Germany, there were about 35,000.
The US president has previously sharply criticised NATO partners, saying they were unable to help in the US-Israeli operation against Iran or in ensuring the unimpeded movement of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
Referring to one of his closest recent allies in Europe, Italian Prime Minister George Maloney, Trump said in April that she did not have “courage” on Iran.
Last month, Donald Trump threatened to impose a full-scale U.S. trade embargo on Spain after that European ally of Washington refused to allow the U.S. military to use its bases for operations related to strikes on Iran.
On 1 April, Trump told Reuters that he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United States from NATO because of the alliance’s lack of support for U.S. objectives in Iran. In an interview with British newspaper The Telegraph, he called the military alliance a “paper tiger” and said leaving NATO was “not to be rethought.”