Berlin – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday Iran’s leadership was humiliating the United States and getting US officials to travel to Pakistan and then leave without results, in an unusually abrupt rebuke over the war Trump launched alongside Israel on February 28.
Speaking to students in the German town of Marsberg on Monday, Merz said the situation has exposed a deeper strategic problem for the US as he drew comparisons with past military debacles.
“The problem with conflicts like this is always you don’t just have to get in – you have to get out again,” Merz said and warned that Washington lacks a clear path out of the conflict as Tehran gains the upper hand.
“The Iranians are clearly stronger than expected, and the Americans clearly have no truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either,” Merz said, according to German Press Agency DPA.
The remarks marked some of Merz’s fiercest criticism yet of the US-Israeli war with Iran. At the outset of the war, Merz was relatively supportive of the US effort, saying Germany shared the goal of ‘regime change’ in Iran despite doubts about the Trump administration’s methods.
But as the conflict has dragged on and the economic costs on Germany’s already-struggling economy mount amid the energy crunch, Merz has become increasingly critical of the war and of what he depicts as Washington’s lack of a strategy for ending it.
The U.S. “quite obviously went into this war without any strategy,” Merz said, warning that the conflict could degenerate into a quagmire.
Merz’s comments came after a chaotic weekend for US-Iran diplomacy. US President Donald Trump abruptly scrapped a planned trip by special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to Pakistan, pulling back from what had been billed as a potential jump-start to fragile Iran talks.
Merz said Iranian officials were “obviously negotiating very skilfully” and appeared “clearly stronger than one thought”, adding that “an entire (American) nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership”, particularly by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Merz urged a rapid end to the war, warning that the fallout was already hitting Germany’s economy.
“It is, at the moment, a pretty tangled situation,” he said. “And it is costing us a great deal of money. This conflict, this war against Iran, has a direct impact on our economic output.”
Germany has rejected US calls for NATO to join the conflict, insisting that it “is not NATO’s war”, while leaving open the possibility of a limited role to secure the Strait of Hormuz — including use of German minesweepers — only once fighting ends.
With the Strait of Hormuz still largely closed to commercial shipping, oil has held above $100 per barrel, driving up costs across the board in Europe.
Merz made the comments as concerns are growing across Europe over the wider impact of the conflict, including energy disruptions and economic instability. DPA/TANS
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