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 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.”
Crosetto added: “The incredible thing is, they’ve used the strait of Hormuz, while we haven’t.”
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.
About 13,000 US military personnel are stationed across seven naval bases in Italy.
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, especially after the US navy shared a photo on its Instagram account showing a US military helicopter landing at the Unesco-listed Madonie natural park, close to Palermo, during a training exercise.
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 situation.
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 and in a subsequent outburst on his Truth Social platform, he shared a link to a story by the Guardian about the Sigonella dispute and wrote: “Italy wasn’t there for us, we won’t be there for them! President DONALD J. TRUMP”.
In Spain, the US military presence centres on two joint-use facilities, the Rota naval station and the Morón airbase, both in Andalusia, which 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.
According to the US defence figures, just over 3,800 active-duty US military personnel were stationed in Spain at the end of 2025, but the Spanish government’s refusal to allow the bases to be used has since prompted the relocation of multiple US aircraft.
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, Sánchez said Spain worked “with official documents and statements. The Spanish government’s position is clear: absolute cooperation with allies, but always within the framework of international law.”
He said Trump’s “illegal war” showed “the failure of brute force”. Sánchez has previously said his country 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 withdrawal would be catastrophic for the security of Europe, 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.
