Germany’s Merz calls on Iran to ‘immediately enter into negotiations’ with US, Israel

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz calls for a swift return to diplomacy after the US’s strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Iran must “immediately enter into negotiations with the US and Israel and to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” Merz says, according to his spokesman Stefan Kornelius.

The German government believes “large parts of Iran’s nuclear program have been damaged by the airstrikes,” Kornelius notes.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul tells the ARD broadcaster “no one thinks it’s a good thing to keep fighting” and Berlin will “keep doing everything we can to make sure we get serious negotiations going.”

“Everyone knows there has to be a negotiated solution. I think everyone’s ready for that,” he says.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius earlier told ARD that “a major threat has been eliminated, and I can only repeat that this is good news for the Middle East, but also for Europe.”