BERLIN

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Friday compared the US-Israeli military attack on Iran with the Vietnam War, calling it “exasperating.”

“What the Americans and the Israelis are doing there is, in my view, exasperating. It’s basically a war that’s also being waged for ideological reasons, one that can’t really be won, and that reminds me very much of the Vietnam War,” Schroder told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

The resilience of the power structure in Iran has been underestimated. “Here, from the perspective of many Iranians, a representative of God is being attacked -- so to speak -- and not just the leader of a normal civilian government,” he added.

Schroeder welcomed Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s stance on refusing to provide military support to the US in the war with Iran.

Asked whether Germany should participate in a military intervention to restore oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which is being blocked by Iran, the ex-chancellor replied: “You can’t do that, under no circumstances.”

In 2003, as then-Social Democratic chancellor, Schroeder had opposed German participation in the US invasion of Iraq.

At the time, the Americans had formed a “coalition of the willing,” which was joined by some European allies, including the UK and Spain. Germany and France rejected the military mission.