NATO strength not just about troop numbers: Merz

Despite tensions with Washington and the planned withdrawal of US troops from Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz remained optimistic about NATO's cohesion during a trip to Sweden on Saturday, reported dpa.

"NATO's strength does not depend solely on troop numbers, but on shared goals, and this unity remains intact," Merz told reporters in Stockholm, where he was attending a conference of Sweden's conservatives led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

"I have no doubt that the US has a strong interest in having a strong European component of NATO at its side, and vice versa," Merz added.

The US Department of Defense has said it will withdraw around 5,000 of the approximately 39,000 US soldiers stationed in Germany.

The announcement came against a backdrop of mounting tensions between US President Donald Trump and Merz about the conflict in the Gulf.

The flare-up came after Merz last week told an audience of German schoolchildren that the Iranians had deliberately let US envoys travel to Pakistan and "then leave again without any result."

"An entire nation," he said, "is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership."

Trump responded by dismissing Merz as a "totally ineffective" leader of a "broken country" who "thinks it's OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

European leaders are increasingly alarmed by Trump's apparent disdain for NATO's security role and anger at EU and alliance member states for failing to support US military action against Iran.