Andreas Link and Miranda Murray
BERLIN, March 24 (Reuters) – Germany’s president on Tuesday delivered an unusually forthright condemnation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, calling the war with Iran a “catastrophic mistake” that violated international law and said it marked a rupture in Germany’s relationship with its biggest postwar ally.
In a scathing verbal attack, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose largely ceremonial role allows him to speak more freely than a politician, has taken a more critical stance than Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has dodged questions about the legality of the war.
“Our foreign policy does not become more convincing because we do not refer to violations of international law as violations of international law,” Steinmeier, a former foreign minister from the center-left Social Democratic Party, said in a speech at the foreign ministry.
“We have to address the issue of the war in Iran because, in my opinion, this war violates international law,” he said, adding that he had no doubt that the justification for the upcoming attacks on U.S. targets was untenable.
Steinmeier called the war unnecessary and a “politically catastrophic mistake” and Trump’s second term marked a rupture in Germany’s foreign relations as serious as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Just as I believe relations with Russia will not return to what they were before February 24, 2022, I also believe that the transatlantic relationship will not return to before January 20, 2025,” Steinmeier said.
Reduce dependence
He said Germany must apply the lessons it learned in weaning itself away from “over-reliance” on Russia to the United States, especially in the fields of defense and technology, which can be translated into strength.
As concerns over U.S. access grow, Germany has stressed the importance of creating alternatives to U.S.-dominated technologies.
As rising tariffs put pressure on German exports, China became Germany’s largest trading partner again in the first eight months of 2025, surpassing the United States. Trade between the United States and Germany exceeded 163 billion euros ($190 billion) during the same period.
Steinmeier said the recent spat between the Pentagon and Anthropic over the latter’s artificial intelligence safety guardrails could be a wake-up call, or even an opportunity, for Europe.
“Europe as a technology hub has talent, markets, opportunities and, importantly, ethics. We should build on this,” he said.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Miranda Murray, writing by Miranda Murray, editing by Madeline Chambers, editing by Ludwig Burger and Aidan Lewis)
