After US attack on Iran, Germany in diplomatic no-man's-land – DW – 06/23/2025
Just over 35 hours after the US bombed Iranian nuclear facilities, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed the issue in front of cameras for the first time. Merz spoke on Monday at an event organized by the Federation of German Industries (BDI) in Berlin, an engagement that had been scheduled for some time.
The event's title was "New Times, New Answers," and Merz uttered a sentence that hardly any chancellor would have said until recently: "There is no reason for us, nor for me personally, to criticize what Israel started a week ago. Nor is there any reason to criticize what America did last weekend. It is not without risk. But leaving things as they were was not an option either."
In other words: Not only Israel, but also the United States is now doing the "dirty work" in the fight against Iran. Merz used this phrase last week at the G7 summit in Canada to describe and praise the Israeli attacks. Not everybody in Germany liked this harsh choice of words.
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The German government spent most of Sunday trying to assess the new situation, with Merz speaking by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Afterward, the three issued a statement: "Our goal remains to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon." There was no criticism of the US attack.
The statement continued: "We urge Iran not to take any further actions that could destabilize the region."
On Sunday morning following the US strikes, Merz convened a meeting of the Security Cabinet. Germany does not yet have a national security council, but the government intends to introduce one soon.
It quickly became clear that Germany had only been informed by the United States about the attacks after the bombs had already been dropped. This was a repeat of what happened more than a week ago when the Israelis attacked the Iranian nuclear facilities in the middle of the night.
At that time, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, on a trip to Cairo, wasn't woken up by his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar. Wadephul, who had planned to travel to the Middle East to make numerous visits in an effort to promote a peaceful solution, then informed Merz, who in turn spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Wadephul was then forced to cancel his planned visit to Israel.
A similar sequence of events also unfolded after the US attack on Iran. On Friday, Wadephul met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva, together with his colleagues from France and the United Kingdom, in an attempt to reach a negotiated solution, but without success. Then, on Saturday night, the United States intervened in the war.
On Sunday after the US attack, ministers appeared on television to explain to citizens where Germany stands on this issue and what the government can do. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, for example, attempted late in the evening to provide some context on public broadcaster ARD when he said: "It is never good when a confrontation escalates militarily and continues. That in itself cannot be good news, because it reveals and demonstrates that the world order of peace is currently under pressure. And that is true everywhere."
But, according to the defense minister, if Iran had indeed progressed so far with its nuclear program that it posed an immediate threat, then "the destruction of the facilities for manufacturing nuclear weapons is certainly not bad news for stability and security in the region and for Israel."
Foreign Minister Wadephul expressed similar views in several interviews. He stated that Iran had crossed a "red line" and must now be prepared to return to negotiations.
Also on Monday morning, the head of the Chancellery, Thorsten Frei, invited all the leaders of the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag to discuss the new situation in the Middle East.
When asked whether the US attack was justified under international law, Frei said: "In my view, we do not yet have all the information that would allow us to make a definitive assessment under international law."
The question of international law was also on the minds of other German politicians on Monday. Agnieszka Brugger, defense expert for the Green Party, wrote on the X platform: "I find the blind allegiance to Donald Trump that leading CDU/CSU [conservative bloc] members of parliament are now demonstrating to be naive and dangerous. It is also a complete departure from international law. This could very soon be met with harsh reality."
Representatives of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior partners in Merz's coalition government, also expressed concerns. SPD Bundestag Deputy Isabel Cademartori wrote on X: "A world in which countries that do not possess nuclear weapons can be attacked at any time by those that do, without any legitimacy under international law, simply because they can, is not a safe world. For anyone."While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter, Berlin Briefing.
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