We have to talk about the Chancellor Friedrich Merz speak; especially about the cracks in his Iran policy. He gets entangled in clear contradictions:

• Desire vs. Action: He wants “free elections” for Iran, but does not want to use any means other than diplomacy to achieve this.
• Trade vs. Security: He advocates free world trade, but steadfastly refuses to contribute to protecting the Strait of Hormuz.
• Claims vs. Reality: He repeatedly emphasizes that he does not want to put a strain on the transatlantic relationship – but through his passivity he does exactly that.

Not a single party in the German Bundestag is of the opinion that the Federal Republic should support the USA and Israel in their fight against an Islamofascist regime. Also and especially not in the Strait of Hormuz – blocked world trade or not. There is only one opinion on this question, that of the federal government.

A completely different narrative about the Iran War

Now the narrative has taken hold in Germany that things are not going well for the USA and Israel in Iran. Although Israel is eliminating these bloodthirsty regime members one by one, most recently the operational ruler Larijani. If you want to read something different, you will find it at Al Jazeera, an Arabic medium:

It is a planned military operation against an opponent, Iran, “whose ability to project power is collapsing in real time,” it says. The key sentence in the Al-Jazeera article is aimed at criticizing the West. The critics made a mistake: “They treat the costs of action as if the costs of inaction were zero.”

“We would have advised against it,” says the Chancellor

We quote this here because the Chancellor said in a government statement this Wednesday that there was “no convincing concept as to how this operation could succeed”. Merz said again that Germany is not taking part in securing the Strait of Hormuz. They were not consulted. “We would have advised against it.” It sounds a little very important and also condescending at this moment, as if the world spirit had personally taken the floor. Nothing yawns behind it.

In any case, Merz misses a mandate from the UN and a plan from NATO and the EU. But the Israelis and Americans obviously have a plan, see above. One must try to end this war through diplomatic channels, says Merz. Although: The West – and Germany in particular – allowed Iran to become so threatening in the first place through diplomatic channels.

Iran should no longer be a threat – how does that work?

The Chancellor says he shares the goal that Iran should no longer be a threat. But how do you want to achieve that – because Iran clearly had no interest in not threatening.

Minister Wadephul’s Foreign Office is currently issuing a statement: “We want Iranians to see a change towards humanity and human dignity. However, this can hardly be brought about militarily from outside, but must develop from within the country.”

I imagine Churchill and Roosevelt would have made such a statement regarding Adolf Hitler back then.

Milei offers warships, Japan too

While Argentina, Ukraine and Japan are actively providing aid, Germany is watching: Argentina’s President Milei has already offered destroyers and corvettes to secure the Strait of Hormuz. Even Zelensky is sending drone experts to the Middle East, and Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi is supporting with warships.

Chancellor Merz, on the other hand, forgoes defensive contributions such as deminers. He justifies this with the fiction that Europe must now stand on its own two feet – although Germany is currently unable to survive without US troops, their nuclear protective shield and intelligence information.

Former Israeli government spokesman Levy draws the bitter conclusion on

Trump mocks Merz

Two weeks ago Merz praised Donald Trump nor its Iran course. Now the US President is mocking the German head of government, who thinks the war is great from a distance but does not want to take part. In doing so, Merz is providing an opportunity to only use the term “allies” ironically in the future: Trump has already complained: “We have thousands of troops in these countries and now they don’t want to help us.”

While the Chancellor boasts about having saved NATO through debt, he only offers help for a peace order “after the end of the war”. In the Bundestag, parliamentary group leader Spahn is now praising the Chancellor as a “strong voice” who speaks “on an equal footing” with the US President and is Germany’s “biggest ace up his sleeve”.

But anyone who wants to speak to world powers on an equal footing must not just watch while others pull the coals out of the fire – otherwise the “ace up the sleeve” will remain nothing more than a political bluff.