Berlin: Following the US strikes on Sunday morning, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for Iran to negotiate. The German military meanwhile has conducted its first direct evacuation flights from Israel.
According to Deutsche Welle, after the US attacks on nuclear facilities in Iran overnight, the German government convened its security council. Chancellor Merz called upon Iran to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict with both Israel and the US. Reactions from politicians of the governing parties were mixed. Jrgen Hardt, deputy parliamentary leader of the chancellor’s center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), stated, “After Iran refused to accept the Europeans’ offer to negotiate, the consequence of an American strike against the nuclear facilities was foreseeable,” in an interview with the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
Meanwhile, the federal government evacuated more Germans from Jordan on Saturday, utilizing a charter flight from Israel’s neighbor as Israeli airspace has been closed since the war with Iran began over a week ago. According to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, 123 Germans managed to leave the country on the flight, organizing their journey to Jordan independently. Over the past days, a total of 345 people had already reached Germany in this manner, with charter planes landing in Frankfurt am Main.
For the first time since the conflict began, the German military received permission to evacuate German citizens directly from Israel with two aircraft. According to government circles, difficult negotiations with the Israelis were necessary for this operation. The flights, carried out at short notice in close coordination with Israeli authorities, were primarily for families with children and other vulnerable persons.
In the night leading into Saturday, the two planes landed at Cologne/Bonn Airport with a total of 64 people on board. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) expressed gratitude to the soldiers, stating, “We can rely on our Bundeswehr. After only brief advance warning, our Air Force crews were on site. They carried out their mission highly professionally.”
Those evacuated had previously registered on a list helping employees of the German embassy in Israel maintain an overview of Germans in Israel. However, not all registered are determined to leave or want to leave Israel, with many using the list as a safety measure and means of contact. Currently, around 4,300 people are registered on this list in Israel. A similar list for Iran suggests there are around 1,000 German nationals in the country.
Before the US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities began, the German government had withdrawn personnel from the embassy in Tehran. The staff members were relocated abroad, but the embassy continues to operate mobile operations. The Foreign Office explained that Germany followed international partners who had taken similar measures, noting that Britain and Switzerland closed their representations in Iran on Friday.
Berlin does not offer flights for Germans living in Iran. The explanation given was that border crossings to Turkey and Armenia remain open, despite the travel difficulties and dangers heightened by the US intervention in the war. The German government had previously rejected organizing convoys with buses for both Israel and Iran, citing significant road risks due to ongoing air strikes.