Donald Trump hit back at the chancellor of Germany after he called the president’s Iran war strategy humiliating for the U.S.
Trump, 79, wrote in a Truth Social post that Fridrich Merz “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” On Monday, Merz had told university students that the U.S. “quite obviously went into this war without any strategy,” adding that “the Iranians are clearly stronger than expected, and the Americans clearly have no truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either.”
Merz, 70, went on to say that “a whole nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.”
Trump responded on Tuesday afternoon by claiming that Merz “thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” Merz hasn’t said that.
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” Trump went on. “If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago. No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!”
The German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Johann Wadephul, tried to walk back some of Germany’s criticism of Trump’s position in a social media post on Tuesday. He called on Iran to allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and said, “Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons.”
Monday wasn’t the first time Merz criticized Trump’s leadership. In February’s Munich Security Conference, Merz said there was now “a deep divide” between Europe and the U.S. thanks to Trump.
“The leadership claim of the U.S. is being challenged, perhaps already lost,” Merz said then. “In the era of great powers, our freedom is no longer simply guaranteed. It is under threat.”
Germany and other U.S. allies in Europe have resisted Trump’s demand to use their militaries to help force the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, one of Iran’s strongest points of leverage.
In response, Trump considered retaliating by suspending Spain from NATO and revising the administration’s stance on Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands, its territory in the Atlantic.
The war with Iran has reached the two-month point. Trump has regularly claimed that it was close to ending, having done so in a primetime address at the beginning of April. There has been a ceasefire, but there is still no peace deal.
Trump nixed plans for special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to travel to Pakistan for new negotiations this weekend, telling reporters Saturday that Iran “gave us a paper that should have been better,” and that ten minutes after cancelling the trip, “we got a new paper that was much better.”
