German leaders spent the weekend trying to make sense of the sudden escalation in the Middle East, with senior figures in the ruling coalition warning against hasty judgments about strikes carried out by Israel and the United States on Iran.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) delivered a short public comment on Sunday after meeting with his security ministers. His office said he had been briefed on the operations in advance and that he spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday. Merz condemned Iran’s leadership as a repressive regime responsible for long‑standing oppression and for supporting militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah that threaten Israel. He reiterated Berlin’s alignment with the United States and Israel in wanting to end those threats.
At the same time, Merz warned of the risks inherent in outside military action. He said it was unclear whether airstrikes would produce internal political change in Iran and declined to render a definitive legal judgment about the strikes under international law, arguing it was not the moment to lecture partners and allies even as Germany shares many of their objectives.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) expressed similar reservations in weekend interviews. Wadephul said Germany was not pursuing regime change and noted Tehran’s role in supplying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine. He too withheld a final assessment on the strikes’ legality.
Berlin’s cautious public stance mirrors its earlier reaction this year to a US commando operation that detained Venezuela’s former president Nicolás Maduro; although experts called that raid a clear breach of international law, the German government declined to adopt that view. A practical factor shaping Germany’s tone this time is that Merz was due to travel to Washington for a long‑planned meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Voices from the junior coalition partner, the SPD, urged restraint and diplomacy. Foreign policy spokesman Adis Ahmetovic said Germany must prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons but argued that the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme did not justify a war with unpredictable regional consequences. He called for efforts to de‑escalate and pursue diplomatic channels.
Concerns about spillover reached beyond party politics. Federal Commissioner for Combating Antisemitism Felix Klein warned that Iran could exploit networks to stage attacks on Jewish and Israeli sites in Germany. Security services estimated roughly 1,250 Hezbollah activists were active in the country in 2024.
The opposition Greens questioned the legality of the strikes. Parliamentary leader Katharina Dröge said there was no clear international mandate for the operations and that claims of an immediate self‑defence rationale would have to meet strict legal conditions that appear unmet. Bundestag Vice‑President Omid Nouripour declined a legal verdict, stressing instead that many in Iran primarily desire freedom.
This article was originally published in German.
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