Germany should never accept Iran’s threats against Israel, Angela Merkel said.
The German chancellor said in an interview published Monday that a third round of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Tehran may be necessary if it continues to pursue nuclear technology.
“I’m emphatically in favor of solving the problem through negotiations, but we also need to be ready to impose further sanctions if Iran does not give ground,” she told the Die Welt newspaper.
“It is threatening the security of Israel, which for me as German chancellor will never be negotiable. It threatens the region, Europe and the world. We must prevent that.”
Despite Merkel’s pro-Israel views, many policy experts believe Germany will be unlikely to stay aligned with the United States on Iran if the idea of pre-emptive military strikes against Iranian nuclear sites is seriously mooted.
