For FOCUS online chief correspondent Ulrich Reitz, this is nothing less than an open break with Germany’s previous Middle East policy.

“The tone that Friedrich Merz strikes as Chancellor is really special. In the words of Olaf Scholz, they mark a turning point, but this time a mental turning point.”

In doing so, Merz is sending “from the highest governing body the moral politics that we have experienced in recent years into retirement. He is replacing it with real politics, with interest politics.”

Merz’s departure from international law

The following two statements from the Chancellor are central. First: “Classifications under international law will have relatively little effect. This is all the more true if they remain largely without consequences.”

Second: “Therefore, now is not the time to lecture our partners and allies.”

Reitz sees this as a conscious readjustment, away from moral instruction, like the former foreign minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) had cultivated, towards strategic balancing of interests, coupled with the necessary humility.

Reitz: SPD has to say where it stands

However, the Chancellor’s clear positioning could lead to a coalition dispute with regard to the Social Democrats. Sos, the SPD’s foreign policy spokesman, Adis Ahmetovic, described the military operations as a violation of international law and called for a diplomatic solution.

“If the Social Democrats think that it should be social democratic to support a mullah regime in the name of a strangely interpreted international law, then one can only say: Have a good trip,” comments Reitz and expects clarification from party leaders Lars Klingbeil and Bärbel Bas.

“Adopt this strange position that is not human rights-based, that does not support women’s rights in Iran, but instead supports a totalitarian, fascist mullah regime. Then I wish you a happy coalition.”