US president and German chancellor say they have no idea what they’re talking about and defend war against Iran as necessary.
Published April 28, 2026
President Donald Trump has slammed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the prime minister’s criticism of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, stressing that the conflict was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Trump’s comments on Tuesday reflected his often-expressed frustration with the reluctance of European and NATO allies to fully support or join the war.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“German Chancellor Friedrich Merz thinks it’s OK for Iran to have nuclear weapons. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about! If Iran had nuclear weapons, the whole world would be held hostage,” Trump said in a social media post.
“I am now doing with Iran what other countries and presidents should have done a long time ago. No wonder Germany is doing so poorly economically and otherwise!”
Germany is one of the United States and Israel’s most loyal allies, but Merz gave a frank assessment of the war against Iran, calling the military operation “imprudent.”
“The problem with conflicts like this is always that you don’t just get in, you have to get out again. We saw that acutely for 20 years in Afghanistan, and we’ve seen it in Iraq,” Mertz said.
The German leader also suggested that the United States is being “humiliated” by Iran’s negotiating tactics, as Iran has refused to send a delegation to meet with U.S. officials before the port blockade is lifted.
Mertz’s criticism marked a significant departure from his hawkish, pro-Israel policies. Last year, when Israeli forces began bombing Iran without provocation, the German chancellor said Israel was “doing the dirty work for all of us.”
Germany is one of Israel’s largest arms suppliers.
But the current war between the United States and Israel against Iran has sent oil prices soaring while Germany and other European countries are still reeling from the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Since the start of the war, President Trump has complained that European allies have refused to directly participate in the conflict or cooperate in reopening the Strait of Hormuz by force.
When Mertz visited the White House last month, Trump threatened to cut off trade with Spain because of Spain’s anti-war stance.
Merz remained silent as the US president criticized European Union countries and Trump continued to praise Germany during the meeting.
“They are a respected nation,” Trump said. “I have a very good relationship with this country and especially now with this leader.”
The US president has maintained that the war with Iran is aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. But President Trump’s own intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, told Congress last year that Iran is not building an intelligence service.
In the months before Israel and the United States began bombing Iran again on February 28, President Trump repeatedly said that the June 2025 US attack on Iranian facilities had “annihilated” Iran’s nuclear program.
Last week, the U.S. State Department issued a legal justification for the war, saying the U.S. government is “engaging in this conflict at the request of our ally Israel and in the exercise of its right to collective self-defense, as well as in the exercise of our inherent right of self-defense.”
But President Trump insisted that Israel did not persuade him to go to war.
