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Germany says it expected Trump’s withdrawal of US troops as row over Iran comments grows – live | US-Israel war on Iran
Key events
Nato says it is working with US to understand decision to withdraw troops from Germany
Nato spokesperson Allison Hart said the alliance was working with the US to understand its decision to pull 5,000 American troops from Germany.
Echoing earlier remarks by the German defence minister (see post at 9:35), Hart said the move “underscores the need for Europe to continue to invest more in defence and take on a greater share of the responsibility” for the region’s security.
In a statement on X, she said:
We are working with the US to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany. This adjustment underscores the need for Europe to continue to invest more in defence and take on a greater share of the responsibility for our shared security – where we’re already seeing progress since allies agreed to invest 5% of GDP at the Nato Summit in The Hague last year. We remain confident in our ability to provide for our deterrence and defence as this shift towards a stronger Europe in a stronger Nato continues.
Why does the US have military bases in Germany?
Jon Henley
The US is withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany, days after the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, suggested Washington was being outplayed and “humiliated” by Iran.
The US president had earlier said a “determination” on the US military presence in Germany, seen as a key part of Nato’s defences but also vital for the projection of US power in other parts of the world, would be made “over the next short period of time”.
In this explainer, we look at why the US has military bases in Germany, what role they play, and how Trump’s threat to wind them down may not benefit the US:
As a reminder on Iran’s new peace proposal, state media reported that Tehran handed the offer to Pakistan on Thursday night, to pass on to Washington, though its contents were not immediately clear.
Commenting on the proposal last night, Donald Trump said: “They’re asking for things I can’t agree to.”
Pakistan, which is working to restart US-Iran talks in Islamabad, said it believes a deal is within reach, but there has been no reported progress since the failed round of negotiations on 11 and 12 April.
You can read our earlier report on this story here:
Iran says war with US will ‘likely’ resume
A senior Iranian military official said renewed fighting between the US and Iran was “likely”, according to the Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.
The statement followed reports that Donald Trump was “not satisfied” with a new Iranian proposal to end the war. Iran delivered the proposal to mediator Pakistan on Thursday evening, Iranian state media reported, without detailing its contents.
“At this moment I’m not satisfied with what they’re offering,” the US president said yesterday. He did not elaborate on what he saw as the latest proposal’s shortcomings but blamed stalled talks on “tremendous discord” within Iran’s leadership.
A ceasefire has halted the fighting since 8 April, and attempts have been made for peace talks in Pakistan since then.
Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a senior figure in the Iranian military’s central command, said “a renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely”, in quotes published by Fars this morning.
“Evidence has shown that the United States is not adhering to any promises or agreements,” he added.
“The actions and statements of American officials are mostly media-oriented, firstly to prevent the fall in oil prices and secondly to get out of the predicament they have created themselves.
“The armed forces are fully prepared for any new American adventure and folly.”
German defence minister says American troops in Europe ‘in our interest and in the US’s’
The German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, has called on European allies to shoulder more responsibility for their security, after the US announced it would withdraw 5,000 US troops from Germany.
Pistorius said the presence of American soldiers in Europe was “in our interest and in the interest of the United States”, but added: “It was foreseeable that the US would withdraw troops from Europe, including Germany.
“We Europeans must take greater responsibility for our security.”
Germany is the US military’s biggest basing location in Europe, with about 35,000 active-duty military personnel, and serves as a key training hub.
On Friday, the Pentagon said the withdrawal of troops was expected to be completed over the next six to 12 months.
The announcement came amid a public feud between the US president, Donald Trump, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, after the European leader said the US was being “humiliated” by Iran.
Pistorius said Germany was “on the right track” in taking steps to strengthen the country’s defence capabilities, as he pointed to the expansion of its Bundeswehr armed forces, greater and faster procurement of equipment and the construction of infrastructure.
You can read last night’s report on this story here:
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.
The German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said that it was “foreseeable” that the US would withdraw troops from Europe, after the Pentagon announced it would pull thousands of American soldiers from Germany.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US will withdraw 5,000 active-duty troops from Nato ally Germany in the next six to 12 months, fulfilling his earlier threats after clashing with German chancellor Friedrich Merz over the Iran war.
Earlier this week, Merz said Iran had “humiliated” the US and questioned how Trump planned to end the conflict, saying: “The Americans obviously have no strategy.”
Responding to the announcement of plans to withdraw 5,000 US troops from Germany, Pistorius said: “It was foreseeable that the US would withdraw troops from Europe, including Germany.”
He added that Europeans must take greater responsibility for their own security, and that Germany was “on the right track” in this regard.
In other developments:
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Trump said he is “not satisfied” with a new proposal from Iran on ending the war, as peace talks remain stalled despite a weeks-long ceasefire. Iran delivered the proposal text to mediator Pakistan on Thursday evening, Iranian state news agency Irna reported, without detailing its contents.
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The US state department said it was approving military sales totalling more than $8.6bn to Middle Eastern allies Israel, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. It came as Washington warned European allies including the UK, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia to expect long delivery delays for US weapons as it scrambles to replenish stockpiles depleted by the Iran war, according to a report in the Fianancial Times citing multiple sources.
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In Lebanon, 12 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the south, Lebanon’s health ministry said, including in the town of Habboush, where the Israeli army had issued an evacuation order despite the continuing ceasefire. Israeli warplanes “launched a series of heavy strikes … less than an hour after” the warning, the state-run National News Agency said.
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The US Treasury Office warned that any shipping companies that paid tolls to Iran for passage through the strait of Hormuz, including charitable donations to organisations such as the Iranian Red Crescent Society, would risk punitive sanctions. Tehran has proposed charging fees on vessels passing through the strait, as part of a deal to end the war.
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Trump wrote to US lawmakers on Friday declaring hostilities with Iran “terminated”, despite no change in the US military posture, as he faces continuing pressure at home to seek congressional authorisation for the war.
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The state department’s announcement on Friday included approving military sales to Qatar of Patriot air and missile defence replenishment services costing $4.01bn and of advanced precision kill weapon systems (APKWS) costing $992.4m. They also included approval of the sale to Kuwait of an integrated battle command system costing $2.5bn and to Israel of APKWS costing $992.4m.
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Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei urged his people to wage economic battle and “disappoint” its enemies, as the war and years of sanctions take a toll. In a written statement he also said “the owners of damaged businesses should avoid, as much as possible, layoffs and separation of their workforce”.
In Scotland, formally accepted offers are already legally binding, and sellers must provide home surveys to prospective buyers. Once the buyer’s and seller’s solicitors have exchanged letters, known as missives, if a party withdraws from the sale they are liable for financial losses to the other party.
Key events
68th over: England 241-9 (Fisher 5, Baker 0) Sonny Baker is England’s last man. I haven’t seen too much of him with the bat but I don’t think New Zealand’s 150 odd lead is in too much jeopardy. Fisher clubs a couple off Jamieson and then takes a single to give Baker his first taste of Test match batting. Baker fences at two balls in a row and is beaten.
67th over: England 238-9 (Fisher 2, Baker 0) “Latham is captaining the Kiwis really well” writes Colum Fordham. “Clever field placings (short mid wicket to get Cox out) ably supported by his fielders and bowlers. England fielded poorly and batted recklessly yesterday. At this rate, New Zealand are going to get a more than decent lead. I hope Stokes gains redemption and comes back for what promises to be the decider at Trent Bridge.”
That would be good, wouldn’t it?
WICKET! Josh Tongue c Smith b Henry 1 (England 238-9)
Matt Henry has five! Tongue plinks a drive to mid on where Nathan Smith juggles a catch trotting backwards, it pops out and he snaffles it at the second grab!
66th over: England 237-8 (Fisher 1, Tongue 1) Jamieson slams down another maiden. You’d hate to face it. You especially.
Tanya Aldred is on Ben Stokes watch at Chester-le-Street:
65th over: England 237-8 (Fisher 1, Tongue 1) Josh Tongue joins Fisher and gets off the mark first ball with a neat clip off his toes. England still trail by 154 runs, which could well be terminal.
WICKET! Jofra Archer c Blundell b Henry 8 (England 236-8)
Archer is caught behind from a loose poke outside off and England are nearly all done for here. Matt Henry wheels away in celebration of his fourth wicket, sharp catch by Tom Blundell behind the sticks.
64th over: England 236-7 (Archer 8, Fisher 1) An unmistakeable waft of Ambre Solaire hits my nostrils. Delightful. Matthew Fisher has something else up and around his nose, a series of short balls from Kyle Jamieson. He does well to duck and sway, one ball thuds into his right flank as he doesn’t get out of the way quick enough but he survives the over, a maiden.
63rd over: England 236-7 (Archer 8, Fisher 1) Matthew Fisher is the new batter, England still trail by 155 runs. Close! Fisher pokes at his first ball and the edge falls this short of first slip. He’s off the mark next ball with a drop into the off side. Eeeeesht! Archer is very nearly pinned LBW by Henry but an inside edge saves him. Henry has his dander up and looks dangerous every ball.
WICKET! Jordan Cox c Latham b Henry 27 (England 235-7)
Gah! Cox is livid with himself after he whips a straight ball in the air and gifts his wicket away! Latham takes a sharp but simple catch at short midwicket and Cox has to depart. He spits his gum and middles it with his blade as he stomps from the middle. He middled the shot he got out to too… but straight to the man.
62nd over: England 235-6 (Cox 27, Archer 8) Jamieson was a bit off the boil yesterday and his fortunes don’t look too much brighter in the early stages of day three. Archer drives solidly and holds the pose as the ball beats the fielder and goes for four and then follows up with a castanet crack of a cut shot for four more. Short and wide from Jamieson, nicht gut.
61st over: England 227-6 (Cox 27, Archer 0) Shot! Cox flicks his wrists on a half volley from Matt Henry and the ball traces away for four across the baking square. Lovely timing on that.
60th over: England 223-6 (Cox 23, Archer 0) It will be intriguing to see how Cox plays this morning, I have a feeling we might see some dashing strokeplay if he can hang around for a few overs and get settled. Jamieson is back of a length, Cox lets one pass by and then defends with a straight bat to mid off. The Oval is thrumming with excitement and plenty of folk can be spied applying a thick layer of sun cream, there isn’t a lot of shade here at the moment. A cheer greets Cox and England’s first run of the day, a guide to point for single off the final delivery.
Righto, here come the players, Kyle Jamieson is going to start with the ball. Jordan Cox on strike. The game on the line. Let’s play.
Just read this beautiful piece from my pal Jon Hotten who watched Rew and Cox make their way for the first time in Test cricket from a lofty perch (lah-di-dah) here at the Oval:
Yesterday at the Oval, James Rew walked out to bat as England’s number six. The score was 170-4, and, disconcertingly, he had to pass Joe Root, who was stomping off having reviewed a marginal leg before decision and not much enjoyed the result. Has there ever, in the history of the game, been such a disparity between outgoing batter and the incoming one? Root had just fallen to the 24,327th delivery he received in Test cricket. Rew, as if he needed reminding, was yet to face a single ball. What would he give, at that moment, for just one of Root’s 13,998 runs?
Tom Blundell remained up to the stumps. Matt Henry switched to around the wicket. It must have been an out-of-body experience for James Rew, that first delivery. No matter how you prepare, how long you have visualised the moment, it can’t have been like this, not 170-4 on a muggy afternoon at the Oval, the captain out, the early serenity of the afternoon’s play broken open, this lifetime’s dream now a visceral reality.”
Today is A Day for Thorpey at the Oval. You can find out all about it here.
What a player. Much missed.
Thorpe’s in” or “Thorpe’s still in” were words that always provided some solace in the back seats. Thorpe was a headbanded and hard-bitten nugget of hope. A zinc-lipped beacon. A “Kookaburra Bubble” stickered mast on which to cling as England found themselves taking on wave after wave of all-time great bowlers. Be it night or day, seam or spin, lost cause, dead rubber or soul stirring victory – Graham Thorpe was batting.
Against a rolling backdrop of Cornhill Insurance, npower girls, spindly gasometers, snow-capped mountains and Tetley Beer hoardings – Graham Thorpe was batting. Against Australia, West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park and the aliens of Independence Day – Graham Thorpe was batting. During Labour landslides, Knebworth singalongs, through BSE, foot and mouth and Millennium Bugs. Somehow, Graham Thorpe was batting the entirety of the decade.”
The players are on the outfield warming up here at the Oval, not that they really need to, it is ‘Scorchio!’
A couple of Kiwi squad members do some sprint training about 80 metres away from my seat in the outdoor press box. Good on them, I’m going to find some coffee.
Could the Ben Stokes saga be nearing a sensible conclusion?
Andy Bull wrote about Sonny Baker’s second day as a Test cricketer:
But the next morning was a lesson, if he needed it, that Test cricket turns on you pretty quick. Root had decided Baker should open the bowling. His first ball flew high and wide for four byes down the leg side, his second shot away off the outside edge of Glenn Phillips’s bat for four more.
His second over started with a ball that was thumped through point by Kyle Jamieson, who bats, nowadays, like Paul Bunyan setting about a forest of Redwoods. The next was another boundary, slashed over the top of the wicketkeeper. And then Baker got him to pull one high out towards deep midwicket.
Baker threw his hands up in celebration at the catch, then dropped them again as he watched Ben Duckett fumble it. Just to rub it in, Jamieson took the single while this was happening, and Phillips carted Baker’s next delivery away square. At this point he had conceded five boundaries in 10 deliveries. The game was running away from him as if it was on a flywheel.”
Catch up on the day two action with Ali Martin’s report:
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to ‘moving day’ at the Oval. The sky is show off blue in South London and the sun is already beating down, if ever there was a day for batting, batting and batting some more then this is patently it.
England need runs. A flat and at times downright confused morning in the field yesterday saw Glenn Phillips score his maiden Test century and New Zealand post a decent first innings score of 391-6. Joe Root’s men will resume on 222-6 this morning with the whole kit and caboodle back in the sheds… apart from Jordan Cox on Test match debut.
Cox was nervy last night but managed to get through to the close and earn the opportunity to bat in heaven sent conditions this morning. His fellow debutant James Rew will be wishing he had done the same instead of instinctively hooking to an O’Rourke short ball and departing amongst the long shadows.
Cox has 22 to his name and Jofra Archer for company, England trail by 169 and need one of their debutants to dig them out of a hole.
Play begins at 11am, join us.
Police say the boy remains in a “critical but stable” condition in hospital.
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