Friedrich Merz said the United States was being "humiliated" by Iran's leadership and that Washington was being outplayed at the negotiating table, remarks he made speaking to students in Marsberg that underscored growing frustration among Western allies.
"The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skilful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result," Merz said, adding, "An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible." The comments came after a fresh round of diplomatic setbacks: two days earlier the US president cancelled a trip by US negotiators to Islamabad, and two weeks earlier a previous round of indirect talks in Islamabad broke up without progress.
The momentum behind Merz's warning is measurable. Two weeks earlier the US delegation to Islamabad was led by JD Vance; the session dissolved with no breakthrough. A day earlier President Donald Trump had told News, "We have all the cards," and said that if Tehran wanted to talk, "they can come to us, or they can call us." On Monday Tehran put forward a new proposal for a ceasefire deal that prioritises reopening the Strait of Hormuz and sets aside discussions on nuclear weapons, missiles, sanctions and other issues for later.
That "Hormuz-first" approach contains practical and legal friction. Under a bill being prepared by Iran's parliament, shippers would have to pay Tehran for "services" involved in passing through the strait—an idea the International Maritime Organization has rejected. "There's no legal basis for the introduction of any tax, any customs, or any fees on straits for international navigation," said Arsenio Dominguez of the IMO. The strait, by longstanding practice, was free before the war.
The diplomatic standstill has translated into coercive measures. After the breakdown of the Islamabad talks, the US imposed a counter-blockade of shipping using Iranian ports, and Iranian officials signalled they would consider discussing the nuclear issue only after what they call a US blockade had ended. Mediators involved in the negotiations already viewed Tehran's "Hormuz-first" tactic as unlikely to produce a comprehensive deal because it asks for substantive concessions up front while postponing other core disputes.
The backdrop is an Iranian economy under acute stress, which gives Tehran both motive and leverage. The International Monetary Fund forecast a 6.1% contraction in Iran's gross domestic product this year, while year-on-year inflation was running at nearly 70%, with prices for food staples and healthcare rising even faster. Those pressures help explain why Tehran may be willing to push for limited, tactical agreements on maritime access even as it resists immediate concessions on nuclear and missile questions.
The tension between Merz's public admonition and the White House posture is stark. The German chancellor's intervention highlights a gap in rhetoric and tactic: Washington's cancellation of negotiators' travel and Mr. Trump's declaration that "We have all the cards" sit uneasily next to Merz's portrayal of American humiliation. At the same time, Iran's proposal and the draft parliamentary bill escalate a dispute that the International Maritime Organization has already rejected on legal grounds.
Merz's comments — and the public split they expose between European concern and American resolve — risk deepening a transatlantic rupture just as mediators try to coax the parties back to indirect talks. The most consequential unanswered question now is whether Washington's partners will back a tougher posture that echoes Merz's rebuke, or instead press for a return to diplomacy that Tehran says will require an end to the US blockade before substantive talks can resume.
