AFP, Yerevan

Europeans have “heard” US President Donald Trump’s message of frustration over the Iran war and are “stepping up”, Nato chief Mark Rutte said yesterday after Washington announced it would withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.

“European leaders have gotten the message. They heard the message loud and clear,” Rutte said before talks with European leaders in Armenia, acknowledging “disappointment on the US side” faced with allies’ resistance to joining the war.

“Europeans are stepping up, a bigger role for Europe and a stronger Nato,” Rutte insisted ahead of a European Political Community meeting dominated by the twin security threats posed by the Ukraine and Middle East wars.

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas called the announcement’s “timing” a “surprise”.

“There has been a talk about withdrawal US troops for a long time from Europe,” she told reporters in Yerevan. “But of course, the timing of this announcement comes as a surprise.”

“I think it shows that we have to really strengthen the European pillar in Nato, and we have to really do more,” Kallas said, while stressing that “American troops are not in Europe only for protecting European interests, but also American interests.”

“Europeans are taking their destiny into their own hands, increasing their defence and security spending, and building their own common solutions,” French President Macron said.

“We have to step up our military capabilities to be able to defend and protect ourselves,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.