BERLIN: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday that if the United States had consulted Berlin about the US-Israel war against Iran, “we would have advised against taking this course of action”.

“We share with Israel and the United States the objective that Iran should no longer pose a threat in future,” Merz told parliament.

“For years and decades, the Iranian regime has broken rule after rule, spread terror across the world and destabilised the neighbourhood. This regime bears responsibility for the current crisis in the region,” he said.

“At the same time, however, we have also made it clear that we still have many questions regarding this war,” Merz said, adding that the US and Israel had shown “no convincing plan as to how this operation could succeed”. Washington had “not consulted” Germany about the war, Merz noted.

Mideast conflict ups threat to Israeli, US interests: intelligence

“We would have advised against taking this course of action as it has been pursued so far,” he said, reaffirming that “we have stated that, for as long as the war continues, we will not take part in it”. Merz also called for an end to the conflict as quickly as possible.

“Europe has an interest in a swift end to the war, in preventing further regional escalation, and in avoiding the disintegration of Iran as a state,” he said.

Such a collapse would “severely compromise our security … would have negative repercussions for our energy supply and could potentially trigger massive migration flows”, he said.

Russia main threat

Sweden’s intelligence service said on Wednesday that the war in the Middle East has led to increased threats to US and Israeli interests, but stressed that Russia remained the main threat to the country.

“Going back several years, we have had a serious security situation in Sweden. And with the recent developments in Iran and the Middle East, the security situation around the world has deteriorated further, and that also affects us,” Charlotte von Essen, head of the Swedish Security Service (Sapo), told a press conference.

“Recent developments have made the behaviour of the Iranian regime more difficult to predict,” she added as Sapo published its annual threat assessment.

Sapo has previously pointed to Iran, along with Russia and China, as a principal threat to the country.

“We see an increased likelihood of attacks being directed at American or Israeli targets, or Jews, or members of the opposition in Sweden whom the Iranian regime may perceive as a serious threat to its existence,” Fredrik Hallstrom, head of operations for Sapo, said.

Sapo has previously accused Iran in particular of recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden — a claim Iran denied.

“Iran could very well consider outsourcing various missions to different proxies, carrying out attacks or acts of violence to intimidate or to send a signal,” Hallstrom added.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2026