Germany's Merz says Iran should negotiate with US and Israel

Following the US attacks on nuclear facilities in Iran overnight, the German government got together its security council. Chancellor Friedrich Merz called upon Iran to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict with Israel and the US.

Reactions from politicians of the governing parties were mixed. "After Iran refused to accept the Europeans' offer to negotiate, the consequence of an American strike against the nuclear facilities was foreseeable," deputy parliamentary leader of the chancellor's governing center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), Jürgen Hardt, told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.

This would set back the nuclear program by years, for the benefit of Israel and the entire free world, including Germany, Hardt added.

The Foreign Ministers of Germany, France, and Britain had made another attempt on Friday in Geneva with their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi to achieve a diplomatic solution to the conflict, ultimately without success.

Foreign policy expert Rolf Mützenich, of the junior coalition partners, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), however expressed disappointment. "The attempt to strengthen international order through cooperation, control, and treaties will be pushed back decades," he told the Tagesspiegel.

Mützenich recently made headlines as one of the masterminds behind the "SPD Manifest," whose approximately 100 signatories lamented increasing global militarization and demanded new diplomatic solutions to wars and conflicts.

More evacuations from Jordan and Israel

Meanwhile, the federal government evacuated more Germans from Jordan on Saturday. They used a charter flight from Israel's neighbor as Israeli airspace has been closed since the start of the war with Iran over a week ago.

According to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, 123 Germans managed to leave the country on the flight. People had to organize the journey to Jordan themselves. Over the past days, a total of 345 people had already reached Germany in this way, with charter planes landing in Frankfurt am Main.

For the first time since the beginning of the conflict, the German military received permission to evacuate German citizens directly from Israel with two aircraft. According to government circles, difficult negotiations with the Israelis were necessary for this. Officially, "the flights were carried out at short notice in close coordination with Israeli authorities and were primarily for families with children and other vulnerable persons."

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after talks with European counterparts in Geneva on FridayImage: Iranian Foreign Ministry/ZUMA Press Wire/picture alliance

In the night leading into Saturday, the two planes landed at Cologne/Bonn Airport with a total of 64 people on board. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) thanked the soldiers afterward: "We can rely on our Bundeswehr. After only brief advance warning, our Air Force crews were on site. They carried out their mission highly professionally."

Those evacuated had previously registered on a list which helps employees of the German embassy in Israel have an overview of which Germans are actually in Israel. Not all of them, however, are determined to leave or want to leave Israel, government circles indicated, many use the list only as a safety measure and means of contact. Currently, around 4,300 people are registered in Israel on this list. A similar list for Iran suggests there are around 1,000 German nationals in the country.

No flights from Iran to Germany

Before the US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities began, the German government had withdrawn personnel from the embassy in Tehran. The staff members were relocated abroad, but the embassy continues to operate mobile operations. The Foreign Office explained that Germany followed international partners who had taken similar measures. On Friday, for example, Britain and Switzerland closed their representations in Iran.

Berlin does not offer flights for Germans living in Iran. The explanation was that border crossings to Turkey and Armenia remain open, even though travel through the country is difficult and dangerous. This applies even more certainly now after the US intervention in the war.

For both Israel and Iran, the German government had previously rejected the idea of organizing convoys with buses. "This would mean longer journeys — and sometimes waiting times — and thus create significant road risks given the ongoing air strikes," the German government said.

This article was originally published in German.

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