GERMANY PERSPECTIVE

Berlin, July 10, 2026. Germany is watching with concern as the spiral of violence escalates once again in the Gulf. According to reports, the US military has struck over 80 targets in Iran - including air defense systems, anti-ship missiles, and more than 60 vessels belonging to the Revolutionary Guards - in response to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, including a Saudi tanker and a Qatari methane carrier. The following night, approximately 90 additional targets were hit. Tehran retaliated by targeting US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, claiming 85 installations were hit, before expanding its strikes to Jordan, which claims to have intercepted eight rockets. According to the Iranian government, at least 14 people have been killed and 78 injured.

In this context, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has publicly spoken out, urging Tehran, according to Deutsche Welle, to "stop provoking" and to end its attacks on merchant ships - a rare statement that places Germany on the side of restraint in what Berlin perceives as a dangerous and disproportionate escalation for international maritime trade.

The breakdown of the framework agreement signed in June between the US and Iran is particularly concerning: Donald Trump has deemed it "finished", threatening to strike Iranian civilian infrastructure, including Kharg Island - through which 90% of the country's oil exports pass - as well as power plants and desalination factories. These announcements, made on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey, have Berlin fearing a spread of the conflict to all economies dependent on Gulf oil, as prices have reached their highest level in weeks.

The burial of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Mashhad, over four months after his death in the initial American-Israeli strikes, took place in this atmosphere of extreme tension, delayed until late at night. For Germany, the ceremony marks the end of a 36-year political era in Iran, but offers no immediate prospect of calming the regional conflict.