U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the withdrawal of about 5,000 troops from Germany within the next year, the Pentagon said, in the latest spat with a European leader over the West Asia war.

The announcement came after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened earlier this week to remove troops from NATO ally Germany amid a row with its chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who said that Iran was “humiliating” Washington at the negotiating table.

“We expect the withdrawal to be completed over the next six to twelve months,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

— AFP

The U.S. has sought clarification from the Maldives days after President Mohammad Muizzu lashed out at Washington over the war with Iran.

The matter came up on Wednesday when U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Sergio Gor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Bethany Morrison spoke to Maldivian Foreign Minister Iruthisham Adam and discussed the U.S.-Maldives relationship. 

Mr. Muizzu has slammed the U.S. and Israel for attacks on Iran and repeatedly asserted that he would not allow use of any area of the Maldives, a small Muslim-majority archipelago, in any capacity to aid the war.

“On the call, the Foreign Minister helped clarify recent statements by the Maldivian President. The Minister reiterated that the President of Maldives wanted a positive relationship. We look forward to future engagements,” the U.S. Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs said in a post on X on Wednesday.

The Maldivian president had refused to meet Mr. Gor, Mr. Trump’s special envoy for South and Central Asia, when he visited Male in March. 

-AP

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arranges his notes as he gets up during a recess of a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Department of Defense’s FY27 budget request on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on April 29, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

Democrats confronted Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday (April 29, 2026) for the first time since the Trump administration went to war with Iran, touching off tense exchanges over a costly conflict with unclear objectives that has been waged without congressional approval. The hearing before the House Armed Services Committee was focused on the administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defence spending to a historic $1.5 trillion.

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President Donald Trump warned Tehran on Wednesday (April 29, 2026) that it should “get smart soon” and capitulate to Washington’s demands for tight controls on its nuclear programme, as a U.S. naval blockade turned the screws on Iran’s economy. The United States could extend its naval blockade of Iran for months more, oil executives were told in a meeting with Mr. Trump, an official said, after press reports that he had rejected Iran’s latest proposed deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin warned his U.S. counterpart against “damaging consequences” of a new military action in Iran, Kremlin aide told reporters on Wednesday (April 29) after the two leaders spoke by phone. Mr. Putin “highlighted the inevitable and extremely damaging consequences not only for Iran and its neighbours, but also for the entire international community, should the U.S. and Israel resort to military action once again,” said Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.

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