“We are ready to secure any peace,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Berlin was ready to support peace efforts in Iran, even as he continued to criticize the Middle East war and warned that he saw no clear exit strategy for the conflict.
“There is no strategy, there is no clear objective and the worst thing from my perspective is there is no exit strategy,” Pistorius told journalists on Thursday after a meeting in Canberra with Australia’s Defense Minister Richard Marles.
“We are ready to secure any peace,” Pistorius added. “If it comes to a point where we have a ceasefire, then we will discuss every kind of operation to secure the peace, to secure … the freedom of navigation [in the Strait of Hormuz], but the time has not yet come,” he said.
“Therefore we appeal for a ceasefire as soon as possible,” he explained, directing his message mainly to Iran, but also the United States. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, however, said Wednesday that he did not intend to negotiate with Washington.
“[The conflict] is a real huge risk for rising and increasing instability in the region, and that has always an impact, as we know from history, for the entire world,” Pistorius continued.
The defense minister reiterated Germany’s more critical stance on the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, which has hardened in recent weeks. “We have not been consulted before, nobody asked us before,” Pistorius said. “It’s not our war, and therefore we don’t want to get sucked into that war, to make it crystal clear.”
He also stressed the economic impact of the conflict. “This war is a catastrophe for the world’s economies. The impact is already evident after just a little more than two weeks,” he said.