Instead, it emerged hours later, Pompeo had flown to Baghdad.

This week, tensions rose between Iran and the United States after Washington expressed concern about reported threats against U.S. troops from Iran, and Tehran indicated it may no longer abide by all the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers. The United States withdrew from the deal last year, but Germany and other European allies still back it. This week, the Pentagon sent a U.S. aircraft carrier and Air Force bombers to the Persian Gulf.

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Pompeo told reporters after they had left Baghdad that he told Iraqi leaders it was their responsibility to protect U.S. citizens there.

“We wanted to let them know about the increased threat stream that we had seen and give them a little bit more background on that so they could ensure that they were doing all they could to provide protection for our team,” he said.

As for Germany, before Pompeo’s destination became public, Maas spoke with him by phone, the Associated Press reported, and they plan to reschedule the meeting.

Still, some in Germany viewed the cancellation as yet more evidence of a transatlantic relationship in free fall. Official reaction was more diplomatic, with the head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, Norbert Röttgen, calling the change of plans “very regrettable.”

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But even he noted that the cancellation came at a bad time for German-U.S. relations.

“Even if there were unavoidable reasons for the cancellation, it unfortunately fits into the current climate in the relationship of the two governments,” he told German media.

Commentators across the political spectrum were even more explicit. The center-right daily Die Welt noted that the explanation provided for the sudden cancellation was “fuzzy.” German broadcaster N-TV noted that the stakes for the visit had been high and that it had been anticipated “with suspense.”

Its center-left competitor, Süddeutsche Zeitung, saw broader, underlying problems in the cancellation.

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“The German-U.S. friendship lies in ruins,” a headline on the newspaper’s website read.

“The way U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo abruptly canceled his trip to Berlin is difficult to excuse,” one of the newspaper’s journalists said. “Berlin has to come up with a strategy for the time after the Trump era.”

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Merkel’s government has clashed with Washington on key issues since President Trump was inaugurated. Trump has frequently lashed out at Germany over its defense spending, which — like many other member states — does not meet its NATO obligations. The obligations state that each member should spend 2 percent of its gross domestic product on its military, but Germany is expected to spend just 1.2 percent this year.

Merkel, the former leader of Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, and Trump have diverged widely on several major issues. The German leader has a more liberal approach toward immigration, free trade and action on climate change. Many believe she ran for reelection in 2017 in response to Trump’s 2016 win.

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Relations between them appeared frosty from the start, even if officials denied that was the case.

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As The Washington Post reported last year, Trump’s critical remarks about Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May have raised questions about his attitudes toward women in power. Two European officials told The Post at the time that Trump seemed to have a particular problem with May and Merkel.

At the time, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders denied that the relationship with Merkel was negative, pointing out that on a trip to Brussels, Trump had given the German chancellor “a huge hug, kissed both her cheeks and announced to everyone that he loves her.”

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Since then, amid domestic woes and German companies’ fears of an escalation of U.S. trade threats, the chancellor has pursued a more cautious approach to Washington — disappointing those who had hoped she would emerge as a forceful counter to Trump.

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Before the visit’s cancellation, the German government’s coordinator for transatlantic relations had told the TV network Phoenix that the visit was a “very good sign.”

“The list of topics that will have to be discussed . . . is long,” said Peter Beyer, a member of parliament from Merkel’s CDU party.

Now, those discussions will have to wait.

O’Grady reported from Washington.