Merz: no German military involvement in Iran war
Following his meeting with US President Donald Trump, Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz defends the military strikes carried out by the USA and Israel against Iran. The two leaders also discussed the Ukraine war and tariffs.
Washington (dpa, d.de) – Following his meeting with US President Donald Trump, Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz defended the military strikes carried out by the USA and Israel against Iran, however, he also ruled out any German military involvement. The two countries had “good reasons” for their course of action, Friedrich Merz said, pointing out that Iran had been close to obtaining access to nuclear weapons. The Federal Chancellor said that neither Israel nor the USA had requested any military assistance from Germany to date.
Further topics discussed at the meeting included the war in Ukraine and the tariff conflict between the European Union and the USA.
Concerning the Ukraine war, Mr Merz called for Europe to be granted a more prominent role in any peace negotiations. “We are not willing to accept an agreement that is negotiated over our heads,” the Federal Chancellor stated.
On the issue of the tariff conflict between the European Union and the USA, Merz stressed that Europe did not believe in any new tariffs but in free trade. At the same time he warned that a threshold had been reached on the European side. Donald Trump had previously confirmed that he planned to introduce a 15 percent global import tariff, as well as looking into possible other tariffs for individual countries.
