{"id":593865,"date":"2026-04-30T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=593865"},"modified":"2026-04-30T10:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T10:30:00","slug":"german-chancellor-claims-relationship-with-trump-is-good-despite-comments-about-iran-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=593865","title":{"rendered":"German Chancellor Claims Relationship With Trump Is Good, Despite Comments About Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

German Chancellor Claims Relationship With Trump Is Good, Despite Comments About Iran<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Victoria Friedman via The Epoch Times,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on April 29 said that he is on good terms with U.S. President Donald Trump, despite Merz\u2019s recent remarks about the Iran war and Trump\u2019s criticism of the German chancellor.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my perspective, my personal relationship with the \u200bU.S. President remains good,\u201d <\/strong><\/em>Merz told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI simply had doubts from the \u2060start about what was begun with the war in Iran. That is \u200bwhy I have made that clear.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On April 27, the German chancellor said that the United States had been \u201chumiliated\u201d by Tehran after U.S. officials agreed to travel to Pakistan for peace talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iranians are obviously very skilled \u2060at negotiating, or rather, very skilful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad \u200band then leave again without any result,\u201d Merz said during a talk to students in Marsberg, Germany.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAn entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership,<\/strong> especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible,\u201d he added.<\/em><\/p>\n

Trump canceled<\/a> the visit scheduled for April 25 by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan, citing a lack of progress in negotiations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The U.S. president also criticized Merz in a Truth Social post on April 28, saying that the German chancellor \u201cthinks it\u2019s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about! If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago. No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!\u201d<\/p>\n

Merz has said that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s Economic Concerns<\/h2>\n

The German chancellor also on April 29 articulated his worries over the economic impact of the Iran war.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Germany and Europe we are \u200bsuffering from the consequences, such as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d <\/strong>said Merz.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis has a direct impact on our energy supply and a huge impact on our economic performance,\u201d \u200bhe said, adding that Berlin and Washington were in communication with each other.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last week, Germany\u2019s economy ministry cut<\/a> its growth forecasts \u200bin half for 2026, with Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche saying economic recovery will be \u201cslowed down by external geopolitical shocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Germany \u2018Stepping Up\u2019<\/h2>\n

Trump \u2060has criticized<\/a> NATO allies for not sending naval support to help open the Strait of Hormuz, which carries the traffic of about a fifth of the world\u2019s oil. The strategic waterways has remained virtually shut since early March, causing disruption to energy supplies and market insecurity.<\/p>\n

The U.S. president earlier this month said<\/a> that the defense alliance could face a \u201cvery serious examining\u201d for not supporting the United States during the Iran war to keep the Strait open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very disappointed in NATO,\u201d <\/strong><\/em>Trump told<\/a> reporters on April 12 as he arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. \u201cThey weren\u2019t there for us. We pay trillions of dollars to NATO, and they weren\u2019t there for us.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Since then, the Department of War (DOW) said that it was working closely with European allies, notably Berlin, to get NATO allies to step up with their defense strategies and responsibilities.<\/p>\n

In a series of posts on X, Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby said that Germany was now \u201ctaking a leading role\u201d in this.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter years of disarmament, Berlin is stepping up,\u201d <\/strong><\/em>Colby said. \u201cThe DOW is already working closely with European allies, especially Germany, to accelerate this transition to NATO 3.0.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz shake hands as they meet in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on March 3, 2026. Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Colby cited Germany\u2019s new military strategy document, quoting General Carsten Breuer, who wrote in the document\u2019s foreword: \u201cThe Military Strategy reflects the idea that, as the largest economy in Europe … Germany must and will assume a leading role within NATO\u2014also at the military level.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt represents a paradigm shift and underpins our ambition to play an active and substantial role.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategy also says that Germany will take on \u201cadditional burdens,\u201d including \u201ctargeted strategic responsibility for Europe at the conventional level.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis increases Germany\u2019s strategic weight for our Allies, particularly for the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 04\/30\/2026 – 06:30<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

German Chancellor Claims Relationship With Trump Is Good, Despite Comments About Iran Authored by Victoria Friedman via The Epoch Times, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on April 29 said that he is on good terms with U.S. President Donald Trump, despite Merz\u2019s recent remarks about the Iran war and Trump\u2019s criticism of the German chancellor. \u201cFrom… Continue reading German Chancellor Claims Relationship With Trump Is Good, Despite Comments About Iran<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":593852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-593865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-empowerment","category-national-security","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=593865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/593852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=593865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=593865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=593865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}