President of Germany Blasts Iran War and Rebukes Trump

Articles | March 24, 2026 | by Catholics for Catholics

Share

The president of that nation, mostly a ceremonial post, harshly criticized the Trump administration, saying that it marked a rupture between U.S.-German relations.

By Catholics for Catholics

Conveying a deep chasm between how the Trump Administration and Germany’s current government view geopolitics, the German President said in a brusque remark that the Iran war is a “disastrous mistake” that breaches international law.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who holds the title of President (who’s post is largely ceremonial, while the Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, is the actual head of the country’s government), said that President Donald Trump’s foreign policy since Jan. 2025 marked a falling-out with his nation’s ties with its most important post-World War II ally.

Merz has mostly avoided questions about the legality of the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran, according to a story by Newsmax.

“Our foreign policy does not become more convincing just because we do not call a breach of international law a breach of international law,” Steinmeier, a former foreign minister from the center-left Social Democratic Party, said in a speech at the foreign ministry.

“We must address this with regard to the war in Iran. For, in my view, this war is contrary to international law,” he said, adding he had little doubt that the justification of the imminent nature of an attack on U.S. targets did not hold water.

JUST IN — 🇩🇪🇮🇷German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier slams Trump for the war with Iran:

“This war is a politically disastrous mistake. A truly avoidable, unnecessary war, if its goal was to stop Iran on its way to the atomic bomb.” pic.twitter.com/PHs38L8uHj

— Mega Geopolitics (@MegaGeopolitics) March 24, 2026

During the first months of 2025, right after Trump took office, China became Germany’s biggest trading partner, surpassing the U.S. as higher tariffs weighed on German exports. Trade between the U.S. and Germany amounted to more than $190 billion over that period.

Steinmeier pressed on, calling the war in Iran unnecessary and a “politically disastrous mistake,” adding that Trump’s second term marked a fissure in German foreign relations as deep as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Just as I believe there will be no going back in relations with Russia to before February 24, 2022, so too do I believe there will be no going back in transatlantic relations to before January 20, 2025,” said Steinmeier.