Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told attendees at a Berlin forum on Tuesday that military intervention in the Iran conflict is not a viable option. The event was hosted by the ZEIT media group, and Wadephul spoke alongside his French counterpart.
Wadephul said that trying to achieve a managed change of government in Iran is not realistic and warned that instability inside the country would harm German, regional and Iranian interests. He framed the idea of engineered regime change as hypothetical and impractical.
"There will be no military solution. And to have a controlled regime change, is, I would say, a hypothetical idea, which is not realistic," Wadephul said during the event.
The foreign minister emphasized that, despite his assessment of the character of Iran's government, allowing instability to take hold would be detrimental to the population of Iran and to the wider region. He presented the avoidance of chaotic outcomes as a principal consideration in rejecting military approaches or schemes aimed at rapid political engineering.
On related foreign policy topics, Wadephul addressed Germany's stance toward Russia. He said this is not the time to reduce sanctions on Moscow. While he indicated Germany remains prepared to engage in dialogue with Russia, he added that Russia has so far shown no willingness to make compromises.
Wadephul also commented on defense cooperation between Germany and France. He expressed optimism that leaders from the two countries can reach an agreement on the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) fighter project, signaling a positive tone about resolving outstanding issues on the program.
Context and takeaway - Wadephul's remarks at the ZEIT-hosted event underline a German policy position that rejects military solutions for the Iran conflict, warns against attempts at controlled regime change due to risks of chaos, maintains sanctions on Russia as untimely, and conveys cautious optimism about bilateral defense talks with France over the FCAS project.