BERLIN
The German president on Tuesday sharply criticized US President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and his launch of an "illegal" war against Iran.
“In my opinion, this war is a violation of international law,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a speech at the German Foreign Ministry.
"There is little doubt that the justification of an imminent attack on the US is invalid -- a view also shared by many in the American bureaucracy,” he added, apparently referring to recent resignations over the controversial war.
Steinmeier, who previously served as foreign minister and helped negotiate the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, said Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally abandon the agreement and later pursue military action instead was the wrong path to resolving the standoff.
"This war is a politically disastrous mistake, and what frustrates me most is that this is a truly avoidable, unnecessary war if its goal was to stop Iran on its path to developing a nuclear bomb," Steinmeier said in his strongest public criticism to date of the ongoing conflict.
He also cited then-US Secretary of State John Kerry's 2015 remarks highlighting the historical significance of the agreement with Iran, which said that the nuclear deal had averted a military confrontation the US would otherwise have been forced to pursue.
"We were never as far from Iran acquiring nuclear weapons as we were after the agreement was concluded on July 14, 2015," Steinmeier said. "However, in the second year of his first term, President Trump withdrew from this agreement. And in his second term, he is now waging war,” he added.