(LEAD) Hegseth has ordered withdrawal of about 5,000 troops from Germany: Pentagon

▲ This Getty Images-AFP photo shows U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifying during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington on April 30, 2026. (Yonhap)

▲ This file photo, released by the Associated Press, shows the Pentagon viewed from the window of an airplane on Aug. 27, 2023. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) US-Germany-troop reduction

(LEAD) Hegseth has ordered withdrawal of about 5,000 troops from Germany: Pentagon

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout; ADDS photo)

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the withdrawal of about 5,000 American troops from Germany, the Pentagon said Friday, two days after President Donald Trump said his administration was weighing a reduction of its service members in the allied country.

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell issued a statement on the drawdown, which he said is expected to be completed over the next six to 12 months. The U.S. has around 36,000 troops stationed in Germany.

"The Secretary of War has ordered the withdrawal of approximately 5,000 troops from Germany," Parnell said in the statement sent to Yonhap News Agency.

"This decision follows a thorough review of the department's force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the ground," he added.

The move came after tensions flared up between Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz this week.

During a meeting with students Monday, Merz reportedly said that the Iranian leadership is "humiliating" the U.S. and that Washington does not appear to have a convincing strategy in the negotiations with Tehran to end the Middle East war.

Trump hit back, claiming on Truth Social that the German chancellor thought it was "OK" for Iran to have a nuclear weapon and that he "doesn't know what he's talking about."

The withdrawal order came after Trump repeatedly criticized North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members for not acceding to his call for naval assistance to help secure the crucial Strait of Hormuz that Iran has effectively blocked with retaliatory missile and drone strikes.

Trump called NATO "cowards," saying the U.S. will "remember" its members' reluctance to support the U.S. military campaign against Iran.

He has also rebuked South Korea for being "not helpful" to the U.S., noting that America has put its troops "in harm's way" in the Asian country "right next to" North Korea's "nuclear force."

Some 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a key element of deterrence against growing North Korean threats. Seoul and Washington have been working on "modernizing" the bilateral alliance, which analysts say could lead to an adjustment in the U.S. force posture on the Korean Peninsula.

A Pentagon official has declined to comment on a potential U.S. force posture change in South Korea, but highlighted the U.S.' "unwavering" defense commitment to the Asian ally.

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