NATO has said it is assessing the details of the United States' decision to withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany, as a public rift between Washington and Berlin over the war in Iran deepens. A NATO spokesperson, Allison Hart, said on Saturday that the alliance was working with the US to understand the details of the decision on force posture in Germany.

The Pentagon announced on Friday that roughly 5,000 of the US troops stationed in Germany would be withdrawn over the next six to 12 months. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the move followed a thorough review of the department's force posture in Europe and reflected theatre requirements and conditions on the ground. Germany hosts around 36,000 to 38,000 American troops, including Ramstein Air Base, the headquarters for US Air Forces in Europe.

The drawdown comes after days of open friction between President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Merz had said Washington was being humiliated by Iran and accused Mr Trump of having no strategy in the conflict, prompting the president to tell the chancellor to focus on German and European affairs instead. Mr Trump later told reporters the United States would cut troop numbers by far more than 5,000.

Berlin has played down the decision, with the German defence ministry describing the withdrawal as foreseeable. Senior US Republicans have been less relaxed: Senator Roger Wicker and Representative Mike Rogers, who chair the Senate and House armed services committees, expressed grave concern, warning that a premature drawdown could weaken deterrence and signal weakness to Russia. The withdrawal would return US troop numbers in Germany roughly to their level before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.