The majority of Germans view the June 2024 attack by the United States and Israel on Iran as unjustified.
In a recent Infratest poll for ARD, 58 percent of respondents said the strike was not justified, 25 percent found it justified, and 17 percent either declined to answer or said they didn’t know.
For context, the American strike on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in early January was judged by 72 percent as unjustified, 12 percent as justified, and 16 percent as “don’t know/unspecified”.
During the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, 80 percent rated it as unjustified while 14 percent saw it as justified.
About three‑quarters of Germans (77 percent, up 23 percentage points from early February 2022) now describe the world’s political situation as “very threatening” or “threatening”. 21 percent (down 21 percentage points) view the situation as “little or not at all threatening”. The perception of threat cuts across all political parties.
An increasing share of the population is worried that the rule of the strong will prevail in global politics-85 percent, up 4 percentage points from January. Eighty percent fear that the war in Iran will harm international trade, 75 percent are concerned that the conflict could spread to additional countries, and 71 percent worry about the plight of ordinary people in Iran.
Regarding Europe, 66 percent (down 3 percentage points from January) fear a breach of security, and 55 percent worry that Russia might launch further attacks on European states-8 percentage points less than in October 2025.
Partnership views remain largely unchanged from January: 15 percent consider the United States a reliable partner for Germany, 12 percent (up 3 percentage points) see Russia as trustworthy, 17 percent regard Israel as a dependable ally, and France (82 percent, up 4) and the United Kingdom (75 percent, up 1) are viewed as reliable partners by a majority.
Opinions on Ukraine are divided: 39 percent trust it, whereas 47 percent doubt its trustworthiness.
