Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he has spoken with the US government about a possible US military intervention in the war between Israel and Iran. He also praised the successes of the Israeli military.

According to Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), the American government is considering military intervention in the war between Israel and Iran."We've talked about it, but there's obviously no decision from the American government yet," Merz said on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada in a WELT Talk special with Jan Philipp Burgard, editor-in-chief of the WELT Group."It now depends greatly on how willing the mullah regime is to return to the negotiating table. If not, there could be such a further development. But we'll have to wait and see. The decisions will probably be made in the near future."

Merz also highlighted the successes of the Israeli military. Israel had"very successfully" destroyed the facilities of the Iranian nuclear program. Today, one could probably say: There are no nuclear weapons in Iran. There will still be"the same level of financing and support for global terrorism from this country."

The mullah regime is "significantly weakened" and unlikely to return to its former strength, Merz said."It won't go back to how it was until last Thursday." The Israeli army has shown its capabilities in recent days. Iran's future is uncertain."We, the Europeans, have offered to provide all the diplomatic assistance we can. If, for example, there were to be a revival of diplomatic talks, we would be willing to participate," Merz said.

In the interview, the Chancellor also contradicted the US President, who had described it as a serious mistake at the beginning of the summit that Russian President Vladimir Putin was excluded from the format."I still believe that Putin's exclusion from the G8 format, as it was called at the time, after the annexation of Crimea was correct," Merz emphasized."We are not sitting here in this format with warlords or war criminals. And that's why it remains the case that Putin has no place at this table."

Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Friday night, bombing the country's nuclear facilities and military installations and killing numerous high-ranking military officers. Iran responded with counterattacks and has since attacked Israel with missiles and drones.