Washington-Berlin at odds over anti-Iran tactics

German youth protest plans to reinstate military conscription, Berlin, March 5, 2026. Germany’s government differs with the tactics of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran but is far from an antiwar force.

The week ending May 2 was filled with new signs of tension among the imperialist countries, mainly between the U.S. on one side and Germany on the other, along with other EU countries. This follows the same pattern as tensions within NATO that have grown over the last 15 years. (See: If NATO collapses) 

Since the war of aggression the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran Feb. 28 failed to bring a quick win while disrupting the world economy, the U.S. president has complained that no European ally responded positively to his appeal for support against Iran.

German Chancellor Merz, a leader of the center-right Christian Democratic party, made the first strong negative response. In the city of Marburg on April 27, Merz told students, “An entire nation [the U.S.] is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership. … ” (CNBC, April 28)

According to Merz, the U.S. war on Iran is a big mistake, possibly a costly one to all the imperialists — for which he holds the U.S. regime responsible. “The problem with conflicts like these is always the same,” Merz said on April 27. “It’s not just about getting in; you also have to get out. We saw that all too painfully in Afghanistan, for 20 years. We saw it in Iraq.” (CNBC, April 28)

The U.S. president then attacked Merz and threatened to remove U.S. troops now stationed in Germany. He also said he would consider pulling U.S. troops from Italy and Spain and went on to insult the governments of those two countries. (BBC, May 2) Within a day, the Pentagon announced it would withdraw 5,000 of the 39,000 troops the U.S. still has posted in Germany and would withhold the stationing of cruise missiles there.

German ruling class wanted U.S. presence

The U.S. occupations in Europe began in 1945 with the defeat of Nazi Germany. During the Cold War, that is, from 1946 until 1990, there were between 250,000 and 400,000 U.S. troops stationed there at different times.

The troop presence throughout Western Europe guaranteed the U.S. ruling class dominance. It aimed at keeping Western Europe a capitalist and imperialist stronghold — with the U.S. in the leading role. The German ruling class tolerated the U.S. presence as this protected their role as capitalists against the Soviet Union and against German workers. 

The contradictions between U.S. and German imperialist interests were subordinated to their joint conflict against socialism, but the U.S.’s overwhelming military and economic power — and the danger to all the capitalists from the socialist countries — brought about the agreement that kept the U.S. rulers in the top spot. 

The end of the Soviet Union and of socialist East Germany in 1989-1991 sparked a rapid expansion of West German imperialism. After annexing the German Democratic Republic, the West German regime intervened to break up Yugoslavia, turning it into separate economic colonies. German-based corporations expanded production in lower wage areas of Eastern Europe.

For the 1999 NATO aggression that wrecked Yugoslavia, the U.S. air assaults showed that the West European militaries were still dependent on the Pentagon for fighting wars. Until now, the only clear break of a German government with the U.S. was in 2003 when the Social Democratic-led German government refused to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. (Britain and Spain collaborated with the U.S.)

The U.S. alliance with the European Union states has the structure modeled by organized crime. The U.S. ruling class has been in the top spot, the boss of all bosses, deciding what percentage of the loot each country’s rulers take. The alliance cooperates to (1) jointly plunder the resources and labor of the Global South and (2) exploit labor worldwide, including in their home countries. 

The problem this imperialist alliance now faces is that despite the setback for socialism in 1989-1991, the world kept changing. Imperialist corporations moved to areas where their owners could superexploit lower wage workers. Industry moved from the imperialist countries to the Global South and to a China that is still directed by a communist party and which now is the world’s biggest producer and seller of commodities. 

As already happened in the U.S., German-owned industry has been shutting down in Germany. The impact on the working class in Germany has been completely negative, with a steady loss of jobs and social benefits since 1990 and an ever growing impoverishment of the working class. The U.S., Germany and the rest of the imperialist countries — that is, the ruling class of those countries — are in sharper competition as their economies shrink.

It was U.S. pressure in 2022 that pushed the then-Social Democratic-led German government into conflict with Russia, which had been the main source of Germany’s low-cost energy needs. Now the German media has demonized Russia, and the regime has doubled its military outlay, cut social programs and is even taking steps to reinstate conscription of soldiers.