The Iran war is a “disastrous mistake” that breaches international law, Germany’s president said on Tuesday in an unusually blunt rebuke of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s foreign policy, which he said marked a rupture for German ties with its biggest post-war ally.
In a scathing verbal attack, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose largely ceremonial role allows him to talk more freely than politicians, took a much more critical line than Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has skirted questions on the war’s legality.
“Our foreign policy doesn’t develop into more convincing simply because we don’t call a breach of international law a breach of international law,” Steinmeier, a former foreign minister from the middle left Social Democratic Party, said in a speech on the foreign ministry.
“We must address this with regard to the war in Iran. For, for my part, this war is contrary to international law,” he said, adding he had little doubt that the justification of the upcoming nature of an attack on U.S. targets didn’t hold water.
Calling the war unnecessary and a “politically disastrous mistake,” Steinmeier said Trump’s second term marked a rupture in German foreign relations as profound as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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“Just as I imagine there will probably be no going back in relations with Russia to before February 24, 2022, so too do I imagine there will probably be no going back in transatlantic relations to before January 20, 2025,” said Steinmeier.
Germany needed to apply lessons it learned in extricating itself from “excessive dependencies” on Russia and apply them to the U.S., particularly in defence and technology, which translate to power, he said.
Germany has stressed the importance of making alternatives to U.S.-dominated technology as concerns grow over U.S. access.
China returned to being Germany’s top trading partner in the primary eight months of 2025, overtaking the U.S. as higher tariffs weighed on German exports. Trade between the U.S. and Germany amounted to greater than 163 billion euros (US$190 billion) over that period.
The recent spat between the Pentagon and Anthropic over safety guardrails surrounding the latter’s artificial intelligence may very well be a wake-up call, and even a possibility, for Europe, said Steinmeier.
“Europe as a technology hub has talent, markets, opportunities and, importantly, ethical standards. We should always construct on these,” he said.