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 its chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said America was being “humiliated” by Iran, and follows weeks of criticism by Trump of Nato allies for not helping to reopen the strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping corridor.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has spoken out against the US-Israeli war on Iran from the start, while 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 had 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. This was greatly appreciated by the American military.”

About 13,000 US military personnel are stationed across seven naval bases in Italy.

There was no immediate official response from Spain, which has denied the US permission to use jointly operated military bases on its territory for attacks on Iran and been the most outspoken EU critic of Trump’s war.

Last month, Trump threatened to impose a full trade embargo on Spain, where about 3,800 active-duty US military personnel were stationed at the end of 2025 at two joint-use facilities, the Rota naval station and the Morón airbase.

According to the US Defense Manpower Data Center, at the end of last year the US military had 68,000 active-duty military personnel assigned permanently in its overseas bases in Europe, with just over half – about 36,400 – stationed in Germany.

It is unclear how much support Trump would have for a significant drawdown. Since the end of the cold war, US bases in Europe have become key forward-staging sites and logistical hubs for US military operations, launching and supporting wars including in Iraq, Afghanistan and, most recently, Iran.

Defence analysts, opposition Democrats and even some members of Trump’s own Republican party see a strong US military presence in Europe as a vital part of the country’s global military reach, with major troop withdrawals or base closures, particularly in Germany, likely to end up costing billions of dollars and significantly reducing Washington’s capacity to mount operations around the world.

“The continued attacks on Nato allies … hurt Americans,” Don Bacon, a Republican representative, posted on social media late on Thursday. “The two big airfields in Germany give us great access in three continents. We are shooting ourselves in our own feet.”

Late last year, in an apparent rebuke to Trump’s threats to downgrade military ties with Europe, the US House approved a defence bill limiting the president’s authority to reduce troop numbers, barring levels on the continent from falling below 76,000 for more than 45 days and blocking the removal of major equipment.

German military officials were reportedly sanguine about Trump’s threats, saying cooperation remained close. “They’re saying, ‘We’ve seen this movie before. This is going to be a lot of bluster and at the end of the day, nothing is going to change,’” a former senior US military official told Reuters.

The US naval air station in Sigonella, Sicily, has been under the spotlight since the start of the conflict in Iran as residents and politicians protested against increased activity at the base.

Italy refused to allow US military aircraft bound for the Middle East to transit Sigonella in late March because the US had sought authorisation to land only when the aircraft were already en route to Sicily.

According to treaties established in the late 1950s, the US navy bases can be used for logistical and training purposes but not as transit hubs for aircraft used to transport weapons for war unless in an emergency.

Relations between Rome and Washington were further ruptured after Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, criticised Trump’s broadside against Pope Leo over the pontiff’s condemnation of the war on Iran. Trump in turn accused Meloni of lacking courage for not joining the war.

In Spain, the Rota naval station and Morón airbase, both in Andalusia, are under Spanish sovereignty and commanded by Spanish officers, but receive significant US funding.

Rota is a key hub for the US navy’s sixth fleet, and Morón a strategic staging post for the US air force and marine corps for operations across Europe and Africa. Both are seen as core elements of US power projection in the Mediterranean and Atlantic.

Sánchez has played down reports that the Pentagon was considering punishing “difficult” Nato allies that have been reluctant to grant the US access, basing and overflight rights, known as ABO, for strikes on Iran by suspending them from the alliance.

The transatlantic defence organisation’s founding treaty does not include any mechanism for a member to be expelled.

The Spanish prime minister had already upset the US president last year by rejecting Nato’s proposal for member states to increase their defence spending to 5% of their GDP, saying the idea would “not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive”.

At an EU summit last week, he said Trump’s “illegal war” showed “the failure of brute force”. Sánchez has previously said Spain would not be “complicit in something that is bad for the world and that is also contrary to our values ​​and interests”.

On 1 April, Trump said he was “absolutely without question” considering withdrawing from Nato because of the European allies’ refusal to take part in the war on Iran and help secure the economically vital strait of Hormuz.

A US withdrawal would be catastrophic for Europe’s security, but is seen as unlikely because of US legislation passed in 2024 which bars a president from leaving Nato without either a two-thirds Senate majority or an act of Congress.