Merz and Trump hold tense call over Iran, NATO strains deepen

Friedrich Merz tried to patch over a public rupture with Donald Trump on Iran after saying, in unusually blunt terms, that his view of America was cooling. Speaking to young people at the 104th German Catholic Convention in Wuerzburg on May 15, Merz said he was a “great admirer of America” but added that “my admiration is not increasing at the moment.”

He went further, saying he would not advise his children to live, study or work in the United States right now. Merz pointed to a rapidly changing social climate and fewer opportunities even for highly educated people, a striking warning from a German chancellor who has otherwise described the United States and Germany as strong partners in NATO.

Hours later, Merz said he had a “good phone call” with Trump while the U.S. president was returning from China. The German chancellor said the two sides agreed that Iran must come back to the negotiating table, that the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened, and that Tehran must not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. The call was the first known conversation between the two leaders since their public clash over Iran.

The exchange came after Merz had publicly accused Iran’s leadership of humiliating the United States and questioned Washington’s strategy. Trump responded by announcing the withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany, sharpening an already volatile dispute that had moved beyond rhetoric and into force posture.

The episode lands in a broader transatlantic strain that now stretches across Iran, Ukraine, trade and NATO. Merz has continued to present the United States and Germany as strategic partners, but his comments in Wuerzburg showed how fragile that language has become as European leaders confront a more unpredictable American foreign policy. The call with Trump may have steadied the immediate dispute, but it also underscored how quickly alliance management has turned into damage control.