The German chancellor made a visit and statements from the Münster military base, wearing a camouflage uniform and standing next to armored vehicles, wanting to give his own answer to the threats to limit American forces because of his stance on his issue.
Statements – “pledge of allegiance” to NATO and Trump
According to Mertz, he is in favor of “a credible transatlantic partnership” within NATO and is committed to close cooperation with the US and to common transatlantic goals.
Merz, who also got into a tank, devoted a significant part of his remarks to talking about the modernization of the Bundeswehr, pointing out that the German army must be able to “fight from tonight” and at the same time be ready for the challenges of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
No negative reference to USA
Among other things, the German chancellor clearly used stricter rhetoric regarding the issue of Iran, leaving Trump and the US attack out of the frame and focusing on the fact that the Iranian leadership “must come to the negotiating table”, stop “playing with time” and stop holding both the region and the international community “hostage”.
Directly responding to Donald Trump’s accusations that he is okay with Iran getting a nuclear weapon, Mertz argued: “Iran’s military nuclear program must be ended. There must be no further attacks against Israel and its partners in the region.”
Regarding the Straits of Hormuz, he underlined that the goal is the immediate end of the blockade imposed by Iran. “As long as the necessary conditions are met, Germany is ready to participate militarily in order to ensure freedom of navigation,” he said.
Trump, unmoved by the effort, continued the attack
Although it is not clear whether he was briefed on Merz’s statements and saw the footage from the chancellor’s visit to Münster, Donald Trump in a post on Truth Social continued his attack on Merz, arguing among other things that he should not be so concerned with the Iran issue, but: “The German chancellor should spend more time on ending the Russia-Ukraine war (where it has been fully ineffective!) and in dealing with his country’s problems”.
Trump’s post specifically reads: “Germany’s chancellor should be spending more time ending the Russia-Ukraine war (where he has been completely ineffective!) and dealing with his country’s problems, especially immigration and energy, and less time interfering with those trying to eliminate Iran’s nuclear threat, thereby making the world — including Germany — safer! President D. J. Trump”.
