The German president calls the Iran war a “catastrophic mistake”.

“Our foreign policy does not become more convincing just because we do not call the violation of international law a violation of international law,” Steinmeier, who previously headed the foreign policy department, stated at the Foreign Ministry.

Calling the war unnecessary and a “politically catastrophic mistake,” Steinmeier noted that Trump’s second term has revealed a rift in Germany’s foreign relations as deep as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The German president has a ceremonial role in the country and is freer in his political statements than Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has sidestepped questions about the legality of the war.