German Chancellor Friedrich Merz critically commented on Friday on U.S. President Donald Trump's actions in the war with Iran. He stated that what Trump is doing 'is not a de-escalation or an attempt to reach a peaceful solution, but a massive escalation with an uncertain outcome.' Merz also emphasized that in a recent phone call with Trump, he tried to explain that this is not a NATO war. He insisted that this is a war that has nothing to do with the Alliance and pointed out that NATO's procedures for participating in military actions in the Persian Gulf have not been followed. 'NATO has established procedures in this regard, and none of them have been respected. I think that at least the government, and probably the president as well, have already accepted that we cannot support that,' the foreign minister stressed, referring to Trump and his cabinet. 'We are trying to influence Israel, with limited success, I admit,' he said. 'If the goal is regime change, I don't think they will achieve it, as it has gone wrong most of the time,' Merz noted, however, alluding to the history of U.S. military operations aimed at regime change. 'There is a book about the history of the CIA that tells the story of the only regime change that was truly successful at some point, and that was in Panama, and that was decades ago; most of the time it has not worked,' the head of the German government added. 'I think he understood,' he added. Merz also recalled that his country has offered, 'if a ceasefire is reached,' to participate in a mission to protect the Strait of Hormuz. This requires an international mandate, approval from the German Parliament, and, before that, a decision by the Cabinet. 'In Afghanistan, the process lasted twenty years, and the regime change meant going from a regime of mullahs to another regime of mullahs,' Merz stressed. Merz advocates against NATO involvement. The German Chancellor responded to U.S. criticism of NATO allies for not wanting to cooperate with the United States. Buenos Aires, March 27 (NA) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz critically commented on Friday on U.S. President Donald Trump's actions in the war with Iran. 'What Trump is doing at this moment is not a de-escalation or an attempt to reach a peaceful solution, but a massive escalation with an uncertain outcome,' Merz said at an event organized by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in western Germany's Frankfurt, reported by the DW website and learned by the Argentine News Agency. Merz stated that he has 'great doubts' about whether the strategy of the United States and Israel in their campaign against Iran will achieve a regime change in the Persian country. 'I have great doubts as to whether there is a strategy and whether that strategy will be successfully carried out,' Merz declared at the FAZ 2026 Congress in Germany's financial capital. 'Four decades of a terrorist regime in Tehran' In addition to criticizing the Israeli-American campaign, Merz emphasized that, in his view, 'the cause' of the conflict is 'almost four decades of a terrorist regime in Tehran.' 'And we are far from that,' he clarified.
