Iran foreign ministry summons German ambassador over Merz remarks

The Iranian foreign ministry summoned Germany's ambassador on Thursday to object to "inappropriate statements" from Berlin, a reference to recent critical remarks by Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

After a meeting with the visiting Iraqi prime minister on Tuesday, Merz demanded Iran lift its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, cease its support for armed groups across the region and put an end to its "military nuclear programme", which Tehran has consistently denied pursuing.

The Iranian ministry said in a statement that ambassador Axel Wilhelm Dittmann was called in following the "inappropriate statements by senior German officials against Iran, as well as certain interventionist actions by the German embassy in Tehran".

At the meeting, the ministry's director for Western Europe, Alireza Yousefi, rejected Merz's comments "and conveyed the Islamic Republic of Iran's strong protest against Germany's unjustified and destructive approach to issues concerning the region and Iran, stressing the need for this approach to be corrected".

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei on Wednesday accused Merz of offering a "knowingly distorted" narrative, pointing out that the United States and Israel had launched the war on Iran and adding that "Germany failed to show even the minimum moral courage required to deplore that".

The German ambassador to Tehran was previously summoned by the ministry in 2025 over comments Merz made regarding Israel's 12-day war against Iran in June of that year.

At the time, the chancellor had characterised the conflict as "the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us", saying Iran's government "has brought death and destruction to the world".