Trump scolds Germany’s Merz for criticism of Iran war

US president says German chancellor ‘doesn’t know what he’s talking about’, defends war on Iran as necessary.

President Donald Trump has hit out at Germany’s Friedrich Merz over the chancellor’s criticism of the United States-Israeli war on Iran, stressing that the conflict was necessary to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Trump’s comment on Tuesday reflected his often-expressed frustration with European and NATO allies over their unwillingness to fully back the war or take part in it.

“The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about! If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

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

Although Germany has been one of the most loyal allies of the US and Israel, Merz offered a blunt assessment of the war on Iran, calling the military campaign “ill-considered”.

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

The German leader also suggested that Washington is being “humiliated” by Tehran’s negotiating tactics as Iran refuses to send delegates to meet US officials before the blockade on its ports is lifted.

Merz’s criticism represented a sharp departure from his hawkish pro-Israel policies. When the Israeli military started bombing Iran without provocation last year, the German chancellor said Israel “is doing the dirty work for all of us”.

Germany has been one of the largest weapons suppliers to Israel.

However, the current US-Israeli war on Iran has sent oil prices soaring at a time when Germany and other European countries are still reeling from the economic crises spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Since the start of the war, Trump has complained about European allies over their refusal to directly participate in the conflict or help reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force.

When Merz visited the White House last month, Trump threatened to cut off trade with Spain over its stance against the war.

Merz remained silent as the US president berated the European Union nation, and Trump went on to praise Germany during the meeting.

“They’re a respected country,” Trump said. “I have a very good relationship with the country – in particular now, with this leader.”

The US president has been arguing that the war with Iran aims to prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons. But Trump’s own intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, told Congress last year that Tehran is not building one.

In the months before Israel and the US started bombing Iran again on February 28, Trump had repeatedly said that the June 2025 US strikes on Iranian facilities “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Last week, the US State Department released a legal justification for the war, saying that Washington “is engaged in this conflict at the request of and in the collective self-defence of its Israeli ally, as well as in the exercise of the United States’ own inherent right of self-defence”.

But Trump has insisted that Israel did not talk him into launching the war.