Merz says US 'humiliated,' lacks strategy in Iran conflict

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday said Iran's leadership is in the process of "humiliating" the United States in the ongoing conflict.

Merz said Washington appeared to lack a clear strategy and questioned what kind of exit the US might pursue.

"The Iranians are clearly stronger than expected and the Americans clearly have no truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either," Merz said during a school visit in Marsberg, a town in his home region of Sauerland.

"The problem with conflicts like this is always: you don't just have to get in, you have to get out again. We saw that very painfully in Afghanistan for 20 years. We saw it in Iraq."

"At the moment, I do not see what strategic exit the Americans will choose, especially since the Iranians are clearly negotiating very skillfully — or very skillfully not negotiating," he said.

Merz added that "an entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, particularly by the so-called Revolutionary Guards."

How is the Iran war affecting Germany?

Merz said the complicated situation in the Middle East was now having a strong negative economic effect on Germany. 

"It is at the moment a pretty tangled situation," Merz said. "And it is costing us a great deal of money. This conflict, this war against Iran, has a direct impact on our economic output."

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The chancellor said Germany was maintaining its offer to deploy minesweepers to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large portion of global oil supplies pass.

However, Merz said, a prerequisite for this was that hostilities must first come to an end.

The chancellor's visit to the Carolus-Magnus-Gymnasium school was part of the EU Project Day, which sees schools across Germany hold events focused on the European Union.