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Danish forces are mandated to fire back if U.S. attacks Greenland

15 January 2026 15:44 (UTC +04:00)

The Trump administration has threatened that if it can’t buy Greenland, it may take it by military force, APA reports, citing the Intercept.

Top aide Stephen Miller even proclaimed that “nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.” But in the case of military attack, Danish troops are required to shoot first and ask questions later.

“Danish military units have a duty to defend Danish territory if it is subjected to an armed attack, including by taking immediate defensive action if required,” Tobias Roed Jensen, spokesperson for the Danish Defense Command, told The Intercept, referencing a 1952 royal decree that applies to the entire Kingdom of Denmark, including Greenland.

Jensen said that the decree ensures that “Danish forces can act to defend the Danish Kingdom in situations where Danish territory or Danish military units are attacked, even if circumstances make it impossible to await further political or military instruction.”

The fact that Denmark’s small military says it is ready to defend Greenland hasn’t deterred U.S. imperial ambitions.

“One way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland,” President Donald Trump said on Sunday. On Monday, Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., introduced legislation authorizing Trump “to take whatever steps necessary to annex or acquire Greenland as a territory of the United States.”

That same day, a bipartisan House coalition, led by Reps. Bill Keating, D-Mass., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., introduced the No Funds for NATO Invasion Act. The legislation would prohibit any federal funds from being made available for the invasion of any NATO member state or territory, and prohibit any officer or employee of the U.S. from taking action to execute an invasion of any NATO member state or territory.

Three sources on Capitol Hill told The Intercept that Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. — the ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee — has resisted the addition of similar language to the pending defense appropriations bill, as to not derail negotiations with Republicans.