BERLIN – Chancellor Friedrich Merz accused Iran’s leaders of shaming the United States by sending American officials on fruitless trips to Pakistan, delivering a stark criticism of the ongoing conflict that exposes rifts between Washington and its European NATO partners.
Merz questioned the U.S. exit plan from the Iran war, speaking to students in Marsberg. “The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skilful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,” he said. “An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible.”
The remarks came amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on NATO allies for withholding naval support to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, now largely blockaded and fueling energy chaos. Merz noted Europeans and Germans learned of the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran—launched February 28—only after the fact, and he voiced doubts directly to Trump. “If I had known that it would continue like this for five or six weeks and get progressively worse, I would have told him even more emphatically,” Merz said, likening it to past U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Peace prospects dimmed further after Trump canceled a planned April 25 Islamabad visit by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi headed to Russia Monday following dead-end discussions in Pakistan and Oman. Merz indicated the Hormuz Strait was partly mined and offered German minesweepers alongside other Europeans to clear it, stressing the war’s heavy toll on Germany’s economy and taxpayers.