The chancellor of Germany, on Monday, questioned whether the US has “a really convincing strategy” for negotiations with Iran, amid the apparent stagnation of contacts to achieve a peace agreement.
“The Iranians are apparently stronger than previously thought, and the Americans apparently do not have one in the negotiations either,” Merz said during a debate with students at a secondary school in the town of Marsberg, central Germany.
“The problem with this type of conflict is always the same: you not only have to enter, but you also have to leave. We have seen it in a very painful way in Afghanistan, for 20 years. We have seen it in Iraq,” he maintained, as reported by the German news agency. DPA.
Merz: “Iranians negotiate very skillfully, or rather, they know very well how not to negotiate”
Thus, he indicated that the Americans “have gotten into this war in Iran, evidently, without any strategy,” before highlighting that this also makes ending the conflict difficult. “Especially because the Iranians, apparently, negotiate with great skill or, rather, they know very well how not to negotiate,” he highlighted.
“There is an entire nation that is being humiliated by the Iranian leaders,” he criticized, while insisting that the situation “is quite complicated.” “It is costing us a lot of money. This conflict, this war against Iran, has direct repercussions on our economic performance,” he lamented.
“It is costing us a lot of money. This war against Iran has direct repercussions on our economic performance”
Friedrich Merz, Federal Chancellor of Germany
Finally, he reiterated that Berlin maintains its offer to guarantee the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, essential for the world’s oil supply, by sending ships, although it has stated that the prerequisite for this is that hostilities cease sooner.
Merz’s words come in the midst of diplomatic tensions between the United States and Iran and the absence of confirmation about a second face-to-face meeting to try to push forward an agreement, after a first meeting in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, and after Washington’s extension of the ceasefire agreed on April 8.
