Trump attacked Chancellor Merz

Washington (dpa) — Following sharp criticism from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the US offensive against Iran, US President Donald Trump responded with a fierce verbal attack on Tuesday.

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about! If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago,” he wrote. “No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!”

He accused Merz of agreeing that Iran should possess nuclear weapons and praised his own approach.

The chancellor and the US president once enjoyed a strong relationship. Merz has long seen himself as one of the few politicians with direct access to Trump, and has visited the White House several times, with meetings proceeding without incident.
Merz sees no US exit strategy

Recently, however, Merz struck a new note and publicly criticized Washington. He accused the US government of having no exit strategy.

Trump attacked Chancellor Merz

“Because the Iranians are obviously stronger than expected, and the Americans clearly don’t have a truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either,” he said during a discussion with German school pupils in the Sauerland region.

“The problem with such conflicts is always this: you don’t just have to get in, you also have to get out again. We saw that very painfully in Afghanistan, for 20 years. We saw it in Iraq.”

The Americans had “quite obviously gone into this war in Iran without any strategy at all,” Merz criticized. That is why it is all the more difficult to bring the conflict to an end now.

“Especially as the Iranians are obviously very skilful at negotiating – or, indeed, very skilful at not negotiating,” said Merz. “An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership.”