Germany's defence minister has criticised the Trump administration over the Iran war, saying it has "no exit strategy" and accusing it of sending contradictory demands to European allies.
Boris Pistorius also told the National Press Club in Canberra his nation would not get "sucked" into the conflict, vowing that Germany would only help to secure the Strait of Hormuz after the United States and Iran had struck a ceasefire.
Iran war live updates: For all the latest news on the Middle East war, read our blog.
US President Donald Trump has declared that Iranians are trying to sue for peace despite the regime's public denials. However, Mr Pistorius made it clear he was worried about the war's trajectory.
"What really concerns me the most about that war is there was no consultation, there is no strategy, there is no clear objective and the worst thing from my perspective is that there is no exit strategy," he said.
Mr Trump has previously criticised US allies in Europe, saying they are "cowards" and calling NATO a "paper tiger" because it refused to help the US reopen the Strait of Hormuz for oil tankers.
But multiple European officials have insisted the US has made no formal request for military assistance.
Mr Pistorius said Mr Trump had also contradicted his own administration's demands to Germany over the past 12 months, saying top American officials had instead been pushing Berlin to spend more money and focus on defending its own borders.
"The United States demanded from Europe to take more responsibility for our conventional deterrence and defence, and demanded that we need to ramp up to achieve 3.5 per cent [on defence spending]," he said.
"Some voices in Washington even said, 'OK, take care of your own backyard and Europe, and don't mix up with us in the Indo-Pacific.'
"That was before the war started against Iran. Now, the arguments are different. Now they are saying, 'Where are you, you are cowards. You don't help us.'"
Germany calls on Iran to stop blockade of strait
Germany has put its name to a joint statement signed by 22 countries which calls on Iran to stop blocking commercial traffic through the strait, and which says the signatories are willing to "contribute to appropriate efforts" to ensure safe passage.
But Mr Pistorius was adamant Germany's military would not enter the strait until after Iran and the US reached a peace settlement — or at least a ceasefire.
"We are ready to secure any peace. 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, especially, the freedom of navigation," he said.
The German defence minister also met with his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, in Canberra on Thursday morning, where the two unveiled plans to begin negotiations on a new Status of Forces agreement designed to make it easier for Australian Defence Force personnel to operate in Germany, and vice versa.
Mr Pistorius said the two countries had also signed a letter of intent to help develop an "early warning system" to detect space threats from Russia and China.
"We need to be aware of what is going on up there. This is the only way to protect our own systems," Mr Pistorius said.
" We are taking a huge leap forward. We are strengthening the space capabilities of both countries. "
Richard Marles and Boris Pistorius held a bilateral meeting in Canberra this week. (ABC News: Matt Roberts )
Mr Marles heaped praise on Germany following the meeting.
"To have a country where we share values, but we share a commitment to the rules-based order, seeking to play a part in the Indo-Pacific, I mean, that is deeply welcome, and it is much more than symbolic," he said.
"In a challenging world, I fundamentally feel safer having had the kind of conversation that we've had today."
Igor_Nordham on March 27th, 2026 at 11:36 UTC »
It seems highly probable that Trump had no entry strategy either.
QWERTBERTQWERT on March 27th, 2026 at 07:24 UTC »
yeah, any exit with the straits closed is an outright defeat
there's no plan to open the straits, trump destroyed any deterrence he held by destroying everything in iran. any credible threat he has left to make works directly against his goals of popular uprising against the government.
iran has no incentive to open the straits, they are actually incentivized to keep them closed. they can (and are) making deals with other countries to allow passage of their trade. this is essentially a removal of all sanctions on iran while hurting all of irans enemies.
iran isn't deterred by having a bunch of destroyed stuff, once something is destroyed its just a fact of life, you can't threaten to destroy it again.
what trump should do is recognize the defeat and make an announcement that communicates as much, letting people know oil prices will be rising and lets us all start acting on that information sooner. he should also announce a plan along the lines of
1: sanctions will be put back on iran after time frame that would allow for the drilling of new wells to open up
2: the straits will be closed to all traffic for as long as iran closes the straits to some traffic after another waiting period to allow for more oil capacity to open up
3: letting everyone know he will stop bombing except in retaliation and will be drawing down united states forces slowly after talks with gulf states about their security concerns
it lets the market know that the price of oil will be rising, which benefits everyone, even when it's bad news. at least we can plan for the bad news, continuously telling us it will be good and then having it be bad means prices don't reflect reality and reality always catches up with fantasy. markets don't work if you try and manipulate prices artificially. all of the guessing games the market is doing is bad for everyone who uses the market. this is essentially socialism in the stupidest possible way. central planning and removal of market prices done by a moron who cant see past his own nose whose trying to mask the consequences of his own actions through ridiculous announcements of success.
unless trump is willing to start the draft up and prepare to keep a million soldiers in iran for the rest of his presidency (and long into the future afterwards), slowly grinding through iranian countryside in a drawn out brutal fight the only path forward is accepting the problem that currently exists and beginning to deal with them in a realistic way. the united states isn't going to fight iran in a total war, there's no benefit to be had, the united states doesn't want to occupy iran, it wants trade to open up and market efficiency, this war is creating the opposite of that and there's no good way to exit
the other day i listened in disbelief as trump said in an interview "no one thought they would fight back like this", this is an absurd statement but it holds a lot of information.
it tell us that he didn't have very basic information about iran, which has been preparing for decades to fight back against this exact kind of attack. it tells us he expected capitulation, it tells us that he planned for capitulation and as such has no plan for this, he's just making it up as he goes along
1-randomonium on March 27th, 2026 at 06:32 UTC »
(Submission Statement)
Germany's defence minister has accused the Trump administration of sending contradictory messages to its European allies.
Boris Pistorius told the National Press Club in Canberra the US has "no exit strategy" in Iran.
He said Germany would only provide support to ships in the Strait of Hormuz once a ceasefire deal was struck.