Trump threatens to withdraw troops from Italy and Spain

Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw US troops from Italy and Spain a day after saying he was looking at reducing the number deployed in Germany. The US president’s threat to Germany came after the country’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said America was being “humiliated” by Iran. Trump has severely criticised Nato allies for not sending their navies to help to open the strait of Hormuz, a crucial commercial shipping corridor. Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has spoken out against the US-Israeli war on Iran from the start, and Rome had played a balancing act until late March, when it refused the use of an airbase in Sicily to US planes carrying weapons for Iran . Asked late on Thursday whether he would consider pulling US troops out of Italy and Spain, Trump told reporters: “Probably … look, why shouldn’t I? Italy has not been of any help to us and Spain has been horrible, absolutely horrible.” Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said he did not understand Trump’s motives for the threat to withdraw US troops from Italy and rejected accusations that Rome had not helped the US, especially in relation to maritime security. Crosetto also alluded to Trump’s accusations that European-linked ships have crossed the strait of Hormuz. “As is clear to everyone, this never happened,” Crosetto told Ansa . “We have also made ourselves available for a mission to protect shipping. …