German chancellor Merz slams U.S. handling of Iran talks — 'has no strategy'
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Iran was “humiliating” the United States, accusing Washington of mishandling stalled negotiations over the war. - Merz said U.S. officials traveled to Islamabad and left empty-handed, adding Washington had “no truly convincing strategy” and no visible exit plan. - The rebuke exposed widening Europe-U.S. strains as Pakistan kept mediating after direct talks collapsed. (reuters.com)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on April 27 that the United States was being “humiliated” by Iran and lacked a clear strategy in stalled war talks. (reuters.com) (politico.eu) Speaking to students in Marsberg, Merz said Iranian leaders were “very skilled at not negotiating” and had drawn U.S. officials to Islamabad without producing results. (reuters.com) (dw.com) He said Washington had “no truly convincing strategy” and compared the risk of getting trapped in Iran to Afghanistan and Iraq, arguing that wars need an exit plan as well as an entry point. (politico.eu) (dw.com) Merz’s comments landed after a new round of Pakistan-backed diplomacy broke down. Reuters reported that mediator Pakistan was still trying to bridge gaps even after face-to-face diplomacy failed and President Donald Trump called off a trip by his envoys. (reuters.com) (cnbc.com) Those envoys were identified as Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who had been expected to travel to Islamabad before Trump canceled the trip after Iran’s top negotiator left Pakistan following meetings only with Pakistani officials. (cnbc.com) (euronews.com) The public criticism also showed how far allied frustration has spread beyond private diplomacy. Reuters said the remarks underlined divisions between Washington and European North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies that had already been strained over Ukraine and other issues. (reuters.com) (alarabiya.net) The war has also become an economic problem for Europe. CNBC reported that officials and analysts increasingly tied the prolonged conflict to higher energy costs and disruption linked to security risks around the Strait of Hormuz. (cnbc.com) Pakistan, for its part, has not dropped the mediation effort. Reuters reported on April 27 that Pakistani sources still saw room to narrow U.S.-Iran differences even after the collapse of direct-contact plans in Islamabad. (reuters.com) Merz ended with a call for the war to stop quickly. His message was that Tehran had proved more resilient than Washington expected, and that the current U.S. approach had not changed that. (reuters.com) (dw.com)
