German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivered an unusually sharp public criticism of American strategy in the Iran conflict, saying the Iranian leadership is humiliating the United States and questioning what exit strategy Washington is even pursuing.

Speaking to students in Marsberg, Merz said Iranian negotiators were “very skillful at not negotiating,” allowing American officials to travel to Pakistan only to leave empty-handed. He described the situation as one in which “an entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.”

The rebuke signals mounting European frustration with a conflict that has now dragged on for five to six weeks with no clear endgame in sight. Merz, who has already made clear that Germany and its European allies were not consulted before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on February 28, said he would have pressed President Donald Trump even harder had he known the fighting would escalate as it has.

“If I had known that it would continue like this for five or six weeks and get progressively worse, I would have told him even more emphatically,” Merz said, drawing a comparison to the prolonged American conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan — wars that European capitals have long viewed as cautionary tales of mission creep and strategic ambiguity.

The German chancellor’s comments reflect broader anxiety within NATO over American decision-making. European leaders were neither informed of nor consulted on the timing or scope of the February 28 strikes, creating friction that has compounded existing tensions over Ukraine policy and broader questions about the reliability of the transatlantic alliance under Trump.

Merz indicated that Germany has attempted to play a stabilizing role. He noted that the Strait of Hormuz has been at least partially mined and that Germany has offered to deploy minesweepers to clear the strategic waterway — a gesture that underscores European willingness to manage regional consequences of American military action even as they question its wisdom.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)