You don’t want NATO to fall apart in the middle of the US-Iran war, says the German chancellor – National
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that he does not want the US-Iran war to further strain relations between the United States and its European NATO allies.
“We don’t want – I don’t want – NATO to break up. NATO is the guarantee of our security, including and above all in Europe,” he said, speaking to reporters.
He also added that he encouraged US President Donald Trump to continue negotiations with Iran immediately.
Germany was resuming direct talks with the Iranian leadership in Tehran, Merz said in Berlin.
Merz said on Thursday that Germany is very interested in the solution of the Middle East problems.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has told other news outlets that Trump wants concrete commitments in the next few days to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, two European diplomats told Reuters on Thursday.
Rutte met Trump in Washington on Wednesday, amid tensions within the coalition over the war on Iran.
“We see the frustration in Washington, but they did not communicate with the allies before or after starting this war,” said one of the lawyers.
“NATO as it is will not take part in the fight against Iran, but the allies want to help in finding a long-term solution for Hormuz. As the ongoing negotiations with Iran, this can be helpful,” said the spokesman.
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The US president has repeatedly called NATO a “paper tiger” and threatened to withdraw from the 32-member alliance in recent weeks, saying Washington’s European allies rely on US security guarantees while providing enough support for the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran.
Although Trump said on Tuesday that attacks on Iran would be temporarily halted under a two-week ceasefire, the escalation of the conflict continued to strain relations.
Trump posted on Truth Social after the meeting in all caps saying “NATO wasn’t there when we needed them, and they won’t be there when we need them again.”
Dutchman Rutte, who is known in Europe as “Trump’s whistleblower” and has been criticized for constantly praising the American leader, said in an interview with CNN after Wednesday’s meeting that Trump “is clearly disappointed by many supporters of NATO, and I see his point.”
Britain is leading a group of nearly 40 countries that want to come up with a military and diplomatic plan to reopen and defend Hormuz but there is little sign that it will bring immediate success. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that about 15 countries are planning to postpone the resumption of traffic on this road.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday that Hormuz will not be able to fully reopen until there is a permanent agreement between the US and Iran, while Italy and Britain said that Iran’s position that it could impose a toll to cross the stream was unacceptable.
“We have a track going on in Hormuz, which has little to do with what happened at the White House yesterday,” said a third European official.
“We know the urgency on the US side, and we know that Rutte is trying to position himself in a useful way in that discussion. We are willing to make the right sounds and even the right actions on the ground, but in the end the problem is not to please the US but to have the right conditions in the area,” the diplomat added.
