WANA (Mar 24) – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, speaking at a ceremony in Berlin, described the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran as “wrong” and “a violation of international law.”

 

Steinmeier, who previously served as Germany’s foreign minister, took a stance against the war, stating: “In my view, this war is a violation of international law.”

 

He delivered the remarks at an event marking the 75th anniversary of the 1951 reforms of Germany’s Foreign Ministry (approximately two years after the formal establishment of West Germany).

 

The German president while addressing developments in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, stated: “Our foreign policy does not become more convincing when we fail to call violations of international law what they are. In my view, this war is a violation of international law.”

 

Referring implicitly to the war in Ukraine, he added that international law “is not an old glove that we can simply take off just because others are doing so.”

 

The former German foreign minister, pointing to the recent resignation of U.S. counterterrorism official Joe Kent in protest over the Iran war, stated: “There is no doubt that at least the justification of an imminent attack on the United States lacks credibility. It even appears that acknowledgment of this exists within parts of U.S. institutions.”

 

He added: “Moreover, this war was a politically fateful mistake… a war that was truly avoidable and unnecessary, if its goal was indeed to stop Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons.”

 

Steinmeier, who played a role in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action during his tenure as foreign minister, said that potentially more effective diplomatic paths could have achieved this objective.