Bundespräsident Frank‑Walter Steinmeier sharply condemned the war against Iran that was launched by the United States and Israel. During a commemorative event on the 75th anniversary of the reestablishment of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Berlin, the president warned that foreign policy does not become more compelling simply by refusing to label clear violations of international law as such. He reminded audiences that the Gaza war had already forced Germany to confront such abuses, and that the same rules must apply to the new conflict with Iran.
Steinmeier stated that the war is plainly unlawful-a fact that leaves little doubt. He described it as a politically disastrous mistake and, more frustratingly, an avoidable and unnecessary war if the goal was to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. He pointed out that the 2015 nuclear agreement had taken the country far from possessing weapons of mass destruction and that the United States had previously celebrated that moment as a guarantee of peace. In the first year of his first term, President Trump ratified that agreement; in his second term he dismantled it, and now the U.S. is waging war.
