German Chancellor Merz heads to Washington in shadow of war in Iran
The Straits Times
BERLIN, March 2 - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces a delicate task on Tuesday when he visits Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump, now overshadowed by the U.S.-Israeli attack that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the weekend. Read more at straitstimes.com.
BERLIN, March 2 - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces a delicate task on Tuesday when he visits Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump, now overshadowed by the U.S.-Israeli attack that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the weekend.
Merz will be the first European leader to meet Trump since the start of the operation, which has blocked one of the world's key oil shipping lanes and thrown global air transport into chaos.
On Sunday, Merz, who returned from China last week, expressed no criticism but stopped short of endorsing an operation which Trump's critics have said was undertaken without sufficient explanation and the required legal backing in international law.
"We recognise the dilemma," he said, explaining that repeated attempts over past decades had not put Iran off trying to acquire nuclear weapons or oppressing its own people. "So we're not going to be lecturing our partners on their military strikes against Iran."
"Despite all the doubts, we share many of their aims," he said.
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