NEWSMAX -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated a war of words with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, accusing him of being soft on Iran’s nuclear ambitions even as the German leader has explicitly argued that Tehran must never obtain a nuclear weapon.
Trump, posting on Truth Social, claimed Merz “thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon” and “doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” a charge that added to already strained relations between Washington and key NATO allies.
Merz had said a day earlier that Iran’s leadership was “humiliating” the United States in ongoing efforts to negotiate an end to the war, pointing to episodes in which U.S. officials traveled for talks only to leave without concrete progress.
He also questioned the broader U.S. strategy, saying he did not see a clear exit plan from the conflict, remarks that amounted to one of the sharpest public criticisms yet from a European leader aligned with the United States.