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President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw US troops from Italy and Spain a day after sharing that he would be reducing the number deployed in Germany.
Trump's Germany comment came after the country's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said America was being "humiliated" by Iran.
The president has been long criticising NATO allies for not providing naval help for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, which has become a central topic during the Iran war.
Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has spoken out against the US-Israeli war on Iran since the beginning, and while Italy has played a balancing role until late March, it refused the use of an airbase in Sicily to US planes carrying weapons for Iran.
On Thursday, April 30, when asked whether he would consider pulling US troops out of Italy and Spain, Trump replied, "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.
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About 13,000 US military personnel are stationed across seven naval bases in Italy.
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 became more tense 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.
Moreover, according to the US defence figures, 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.
