Wadephul in Israel and Saudi Arabia

Riyadh (dpa) - Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul is continuing his crisis tour of countries affected by the Iran war with a visit to Saudi Arabia. Yesterday evening, he met with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in the capital Riyadh. Wadephul wanted to sound out what prospects the government in the Gulf kingdom sees for an end to the attacks on Iran by Israel and the US and for the subsequent period. On Sunday, fatalities were recorded in Saudi Arabia as a result of a suspected Iranian attack for the first time since the start of the Iran war.

It emerged on the sidelines of Wadephul’s visit that Germany is withdrawing staff not only from the German embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad but also from the General Consulate in Erbil.

Before continuing his trip to Saudi Arabia, Wadephul had travelled from Cyprus to Israel on Tuesday - the first European foreign minister to visit the country since the beginning of the war - and held talks with his counterpart Gideon Saar. “Nobody can have any interest in chaos, civil war or the collapse of Iran,” Wadephul said during a joint press conference in Jerusalem. “The effects would be considerable and would also be felt by us in Europe.”