Merz derides ‘humiliating’ US peace process with Iran as Europe’s rift with Trump widens

Germany’s leader said on Monday that Iran was “humiliating” the United States by dragging US envoys out to Pakistan for futile peace talks, amid a widening rift between Washington and its European allies over the conflict.

Friedrich Merz told students in Marsberg that the Iranians were “obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skilled at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result”.

“An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible," he said in an unusually abrupt rebuke over the war.

The lingering Iran crisis continues to strain relations between Washington and its Nato partners, most recently tested by a leaked Pentagon memo weighing options to punish allies who did not support the US in its mission.

Merz, who allowed the US to use Ramstein air base to coordinate strikes on Iran, said he could not see what exit strategy Trump was pursuing to end the conflict, which Trump claims to have paused until a deal is made.

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“If I had known that it would continue like this for five or six weeks and get progressively worse, I would have told him even more emphatically,” Merz said, comparing the conflict to Washington’s drawn-out wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Peace prospects took a hit on Saturday when Trump scrapped plans to send a delegation to Islamabad to meet with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.

Senior Iranian sources told Reuters that Araghchi had brought with him a fresh proposal envisioning talks in stages, with the nuclear issue to be set aside at the start. That framework would reportedly start with ending the war and providing security guarantees that Washington cannot reboot it at a later date. Only then would negotiators look to resolve the US blockade and the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has sought to reopen under its control.

Trump said on Saturday that he had cancelled the visit due to too much travel and expense for what he considered to be an inadequate offer. The Iranians “offered a lot, but not enough”, he said. Iranian officials had already downplayed the possibility Araghchi would consider meeting Trump’s delegation while in Pakistan.

Trump said later that Iran could call him if they wanted to negotiate.

Arriving in Russia to meet Vladimir Putin on Monday, Araghchi wrote on Telegram that Iran was considering Trump’s request for negotiations. He told reporters that Trump had requested negotiations because the US hadn’t achieved any of its objectives.

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Putin - whom Trump has mediated for in the Ukraine war - offered Iran his support on Monday, saying the country would weather a “difficult period” and that peace would soon prevail.

“For our part, we will do everything that serves your interests and the interests of all the peoples of the region to ensure that peace is achieved as quickly as possible,” he told Araghchi, according to Russian state media.

Putin asked Araghchi to carry a message to new Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei that “Russia, like Iran, intends to continue our strategic relationship”.

On the water, the Strait of Hormuz remained disrupted. Six tankers loaded with Iranian oil have been turned back by the US blockade in recent days, while just seven have crossed the strait in the 24 hours.

With the blockades stalling peace talks and continuing to impact global markets, British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to chair another COBR meeting this week to discuss the impact.

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Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, warned that the UK could expect to pay more for energy, food and flights for at least eight months after the conflict ends.

“There's going to be a long tail from this,” he told the BBC. Jones said the government was preparing to secure supplies of carbon dioxide for food producers and breweries, anticipating shortages.

“If there is a problem with jet fuel on holidays and carbon dioxide on beer, the summer might be pretty depressing for people, but we're doing everything we can to make sure that it's not the case,” he said.

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