German president calls Iran war a disastrous mistake, in rare rebuke of Trump

The Iran war is a "disastrous mistake" that breaches international law, Germany's president said on Tuesday, in an unusually blunt rebuke of US President Donald Trump's foreign policy, which he said marked a rupture for German ties with its biggest post-war ally.

In a scathing verbal attack, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose largely ceremonial role allows him to speak more freely than politicians, took a far more critical line than Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has skirted questions on the war's legality.

"Our foreign policy does not become more convincing just because we do not call a breach of international law a breach of international law," Steinmeier, a former foreign minister from the centre-left Social Democratic Party, said in a speech at the foreign ministry.

"We must address this with regard to the war in Iran. For, in my view, this war is contrary to international law," he said, adding he had little doubt that the justification of the imminent nature of an attack on US targets did not hold water.

Calling the war unnecessary and a "politically disastrous mistake", Steinmeier said Trump's second term marked a rupture in German foreign relations as profound as Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Just as I believe there will be no going back in relations with Russia to before 24 February 2022, so too do I believe there will be no going back in transatlantic relations to before 20 January 2025," said Steinmeier.