00:00The Pentagon announced Friday it plans to pull 5,000 troops out of Germany as a rift widens
00:07between Europe and U.S. President Donald Trump on the war in Iran. The Pentagon said the withdrawal
00:12was expected to be completed over the next 6 to 12 months. Trump had threatened a drawdown in
00:18forces earlier this week after sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said on
00:26Monday the Iranians were humiliating the U.S. in talks to end the two-month-old war. A senior
00:32Pentagon official speaking on condition of anonymity said recent German rhetoric had been
00:37quote, inappropriate and unhelpful. The official said the drawdown would bring numbers back to
00:43roughly pre-2022 levels before President Joe Biden's build-up following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
00:50They said a brigade combat team now in Germany will leave and a long-range fires battalion that
00:56had been set to deploy there later this year would now no longer do so. Trump has singled out
01:01Germany even as he has harshly criticized other NATO allies for not sending their navies to help
01:07open the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran conflict. Germany hosts around 35,000 U.S. troops,
01:14the largest American military presence in Europe.
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