U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting with Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Nada Hamadeh Moawad and Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ekiel Leiter at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2026.
Brendan Smialowski AFP | Getty Images
The German chancellor said the United States was “humiliated” by the Iranian regime, amid growing unease among European leaders over the protracted conflict in the Middle East.
“The Iranians are clearly very good at negotiating, or rather, very good at not negotiating, letting Americans travel to Islamabad and then leaving again without a result,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday.
“The entire country is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by the so-called Revolutionary Guards. I hope this situation ends as soon as possible,” Merz told students in Marsberg, Germany.
The comment was unexpected but reflects, at least in part, frustration that the Iran conflict is undermining the Merz administration’s efforts to shore up Germany’s struggling economy.
Merz, like other European leaders, has faced criticism from President Donald Trump for his reluctance to join the war. Europe is already dealing with a four-year conflict in Ukraine, and views the latest military operation as a war of choice that was not discussed in advance.
Leaders are also concerned that the United States is underestimating the resilience of the Iranian regime, backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and fear this war could become another so-called “forever war” in the Middle East.
“The problem with any conflict like this is always the same,” Mertz said Monday. “You don’t just have to get in, you have to get out of it. We’ve seen it acutely in Afghanistan for 20 years. We’ve seen it in Iraq.”
Europe’s patience weakens
Merz’s concerns are echoed by other European officials who have expressed reluctance to “get involved” in a war, as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said. French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have also expressed concern about the war, and Germany’s defense minister previously called it a “catastrophe.”
Jens Stoltenberg, a former NATO chief and current Norwegian finance minister, told CNBC that with peace talks stalled, the war remains dangerous and the potential for escalation remains clear.
“What worries me most is, of course, the fact that war is dangerous,” Stoltenberg told CNBC’s Ben Boulos on Monday.
“There will be a war in Iran, a war in the Middle East, and then there will be a full-scale war in Europe and Ukraine. Of course wars are unpredictable. It could escalate, and if it does, it will have an economic impact that is first and foremost a concern for human suffering, but even greater than the economic impact we have seen so far,” he warned.
The Iran war is having a major impact on net energy importing countries such as the European Union and the United Kingdom. That’s because oil and gas supplies from non-Middle Eastern producers such as the United States and Norway have been forced to ramp up. The EU used to import large amounts of oil and gas from neighboring Russia, but these imports were banned due to the Ukraine war.
Competition and demand for alternative fossil fuel supplies is increasing and prices are rising dramatically. Last Friday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU had to pay an additional 25 billion euros ($29.2 billion) for oil and gas imports since the start of the Iran war.
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron blamed both the United States and Iran for the continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and called for a “return to calm,” French news agency France 24 reported.
Negotiations are stalled, but there are offers
U.S. negotiators were scheduled to visit Islamabad, Pakistan, over the weekend for further talks, but President Trump canceled the trip.
“We hold all the cards,” the president told Fox News, adding that if Iran wants to talk, “they can come to us, they can call us.” Previous negotiations led by Vice President J.D. Vance also failed to reach an agreement.
A man reads a newspaper at a roadside stall in Islamabad on April 25, 2026. The US envoy headed to Pakistan’s capital on April 25 to begin a new round of peace talks with Iran amid an unstable ceasefire, but prospects for direct negotiations remained uncertain. (Photo by Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images)
Asif Hassan | AFP | Getty Images
The Iranian government is proposing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz once the United States lifts the ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and the war ends, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt confirmed on Monday.
The proposal would postpone negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program to a later date, Axios and the Associated Press reported early Monday. Reuters reported earlier on Tuesday that President Trump was not satisfied with Iran’s offer, and the White House is expected to come up with a counter-proposal within the next few days.
