US President Donald Trump has continued his attacks on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, saying he was “doing a terrible job” with his own country and should spend “less time on interfering” with Washington’s effort to tackle “the Iran nuclear threat”, Reuters reports.

Trump has been sparring with Merz over the war in Iran in recent days. On Tuesday, he said Merz didn’t know what he was talking about after the German leader said the Iranians were humiliating the US in talks to end the two-month-old war.

On Wednesday, during an Oval Office event, he said Merz was struggling at home with energy and immigration issues, and had failed to help resolve the Ukraine war.

“He’s doing a terrible job,” he said. “And he’s got a big problem with Ukraine, because they’re in that mess.”