NewNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
As President Donald Trump continues to express anger at NATO European allies for their lack of help in the war with Iran, he is making clear that there will be a price to pay for their behavior.
During the war and in the weeks following the armistice, the President has retaliated not only with words but with definite action against many of those countries.
Germany
On Saturday, Trump said he would initially withdraw more than 5,000 US troops from Germany, according to the Pentagon., After the Berlin leader condemned US efforts to stop Iran’s regime from developing nuclear weapons.
Trump vetts withdrawing US troops from Germany amid clash with chancellor over Iran war
President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on March 3, 2026 to discuss issues including the recent US and Israeli attacks on Iran. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
A day earlier he had said of Germany, “We’re going to cut a lot. We’re going to cut more than 5,000.” The Trump administration had earlier announced a 5,000 troop cut in Germany after the country’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Iranian regime had “insulted” Trump.
In an apparent state of panic, Merz on Sunday withdrew his attack on Trump and his Iran strategy. The Chancellor wrote on X: “The United States is and will remain Germany’s most important partner in the North Atlantic alliance. We have a common goal: Iran must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.”
Trump increased his troop cuts against Germany amid his comments about reducing the number of US troops on the ground in Spain and Italy because they failed to assist the US in the war against Iran. The President’s anger at Western European countries has been boiling for several weeks and could lead to deep changes in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Trump criticizes Spain amid rift over Iran, NATO, Sanchez faces questions on political motives as PM
Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital, “The lack of support for the United States is nothing short of a betrayal. I think the president has a right to be angry at the lack of support from key European allies.”
An Iranian flag is placed in the debris of a police station damaged in an airstrike in Tehran, Iran, March 3, 2026. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
He said, “There is a deep cultural appeasement in Europe toward the Iranian regime that goes back decades, and a refusal to accept the reality of the enormous threats posed by a nuclear-armed Iran. European leaders are falling asleep to destruction by this dangerous path they have taken.”
Trump is right about NATO’s weakness – the real question is how the US fixes it
“How far Europe has moved towards losing its moral balance because of the lack of support from the United States. Iran is a genocidal regime that threatens to wipe Israel off the map.” He said that the Islamic Republic has killed large numbers of its own population.
“If you listen to European leaders, it sounds like America is the villain here,” said Gardiner, a former adviser to Lady Margaret Thatcher.
Speaking in Marsberg last week, Merz criticized the US approach towards Iran, saying Washington was being “humiliated by the Iranian leadership” and expressed hope that the conflict would end “as soon as possible”.
Gardiner said of Merz’s comments, “Comments like this really help promote the Iranian dictatorship. It’s astonishing that a German Chancellor would make these kinds of comments in a time of war… And the German Chancellor is comforting the Iranian regime. It’s disgusting.”
Multiple Fox News Digital press questions sent to Merz spokesman Stephen Cornelius were not returned.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the US conflict with Iran “reckless” and “unjust”. (Yves Harman/Reuters)
Spain and Italy
Before announcing the troop withdrawal from Germany, and in response to a question about drawing down US troops in Spain and Italy, Trump responded, “I mean, they’re not really on board. Yeah, probably. Yeah, I probably would…Italy hasn’t helped us any. And Spain has been terrible. Absolutely terrible.”
Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has taken an aggressive stance toward the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against the Iranian regime, and has barred the U.S. from using its military bases in Spain to refuel aircraft or prepare for military action. He has denounced the campaign as illegal, while remaining silent on the regime’s killing of thousands of protesters and its growing campaign to produce ballistic missiles and acquire nuclear weapons-grade enriched uranium.
Gardiner said, “For a long time the Spanish have been in the worst position. At least the Germans and Italians have allowed the use of their own bases. The Spanish have refused to cooperate in any way in the war.”
“I’m amazed by her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” Trump told Italian daily Corriere Della Sera last month about the country’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Gardiner, a Europe expert, sees a wide gap between what predominantly Western European countries and the United States see as the preservation of Western civilization, freedom, democracy, and independence.
French President Emmanuel Macron listens to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a working session with world leaders at the G7 summit in Borgo Egnazia, Italy, on June 13, 2024. (Andrew Medichini/AP)
“Europe has lost both its ability and will to fight. The United States is clearly willing to fight to defend Western civilization and the free world. Most of Europe has given up, especially Western Europe. It is an appeasement mentality coupled with weakness and pacifism and also a growing acceptance of mass migration and Islamization by European leaders.”
He added, “Europe has changed fundamentally beyond recognition over the past 20 years, and yet Europe’s ruling elites, with a few notable exceptions, accept this as a fact.”
France and UK
Trump took on the United Kingdom and France in March for their stance on war against Iran.
“The country of France will not allow Israel-bound planes loaded with military supplies to fly over French territory,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He wrote, “France has not been very helpful regarding the ‘butcher of Iran’, which has been successfully eliminated! America will remember!!!”
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on February 17, 2025, ahead of an informal summit of European leaders to discuss the situation in Ukraine and European security. (Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump also wrote, “To all the countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to join in the beheading of Iran, I have a suggestion for you.”
“No. 1, buy from America, we have plenty of it, and No. 2, muster up some belated courage, go across the strait, and just take it.”
“You have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the United States will no longer be there to help you, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been essentially destroyed. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”
Click here to download Fox News App
Gardiner said that the crisis over the Iran war shows that Europe has capitulated. Big Western Europeans have embraced “defeatism” and “they don’t care. It’s that simple. And the path Europe is taking now will cost future generations,” he said.
Fox News’ Brittany Miller and Solly Bousidan contributed to this report.
