Germany nixes US request to join naval mission off Iran

Berlin (AFP) - Germany poured cold water Wednesday on a US demand it join a maritime surveillance mission in the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that it wants to focus on diplomacy to ease tensions with Iran.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government was responding to a US demand made public a day earlier "to help secure" the world's busiest oil shipping lane and "combat Iranian aggression".

Merkel's spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said Germany was "reluctant" to join such a US-led mission and had "not offered a contribution, as the overall approach of our policy toward Iran differs significantly from the current US approach".

Berlin was seeking an emphasis on "diplomacy and de-escalation", she said, as it also tries to save the Iran nuclear deal from which President Donald Trump withdrew last year.

Demmer said that "participation in a US-led mission could complicate this issue, even as of course we share the goal of freedom of navigation".

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was even more direct, reflecting the position of his centre-left Social Democrats, who are junior coalition partners to Merkel's conservatives.

Germany "will not participate in the maritime mission proposed and planned by the US," said Maas, adding that "we are in close coordination with our French partners" on the issue.

Berlin "considers the US strategy of maximum pressure on Iran to be wrong," he said, speaking on a Warsaw visit.

Britain last week ordered its navy to escort UK-flagged ships in the strait in response to Iranian soldiers seizing a tanker in the flashpoint entrance to the Gulf.

Demmer said that Germany remained "in close coordination with France and Britain" on questions of maritime security, adding that Berlin believed the idea of a European naval mission was "worth considering".

https://news.yahoo.com/germany-nixe...K6MnS9F7mi7JSMjHnGWDFdBUnJawRop4LhLVJKAeLsJUj


I think thats good news. It was US who broke the Iran nuclear deal. Its US that pours oil in the fire and started this to escalate. The UK followed like a poodle. Germany will not follow Trumps wish and it appears France denies it as well.

 

Sobo, you're right. The U.S. should leave the Strait of Hormuz and when your buddy Iran shuts off all your oil supply, I guess you can suck it.

 

Germany gets no oil from there.

https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/EN/Ar...rts-and-crude-oil-productions-in-germany.html

So you say Iran will shut down our oil coming from Russia, Norway and Netherlands?

 

Germany will just buy it from their newest best buddy,

Russia.
​

What will happen when Russia turns off the fuel flow?


BTW I favor letting the Euros and India handle the Persian gulf.
India has already sent a few ships.
Let "their" tax payers cover this one!


Moi

And too​

 

Oh, bad decision. I guess Germany doesn't send ships through the Strait of Hormuz, or they would know better.

 

Why? We have peace with Iran. There are two seas we are responsible for. North Sea, Baltic Sea. Thats our coast, we are not responsible for strait of hormuz

 

The ONLY reason there is tension in the Persian Gulf is due to the US. Why should anyone join them in tamping down a risk created by US warmongers?

The EU should be rightly pissed about the whole affair. It's the height of hubris and myopia for the US to expect help in scuppering the JCPOA.

(Exception made for the UK, which is a hopeless toady.)

 

They got like 4 frigates or something.

Who cares.

 

Yes before the US the area was peaceful.

 

Germany is too busy trying to sell pork bratwurst to Iran they're so short-sighted they don't see oil at 150 euros/barrel if the Strait is closed. I'm sure Russia will be glad to sell them all the oil they want at that price.

 

You know any incident in strait of hormuz before 1953?

Get the **** out there. Germany has no interest to side with usa

 

Let'm shut it. Then all those Arabs can go back to chunkin rocks when they run out of dollars.

 

Germany nixes US request to join naval mission off Iran.

Easily predictable.

 

All U.S actions in the arab world are conducted in the interest of Israel, not the U.S. Germany is wise to stay out of it. Nothing good comes from that part of the world.

 

This is an interesting stance for you to take when you created another thread complaining that Trump hasnt made a state visit to Germany.

 

Germany has zero influence in the world.
Did not do anything one way or another for the last 50 years.

 

Let's see how long that peace holds up when Iran realizes Germany/EU cannot save the nuclear agreement.

 

Yes the Persian Gulf was.

 

Pretty much. Germany has about 35 combat vessels, and they serve the same primary function as the US Coast Guard. Germany hasn't even thought about projecting naval power since the Battle of the Atlantic, and I don't see them starting now. This isn't a NATO matter, and Article 5 doesn't apply here. I don't see any upside for Germany if they got involved in 'Murican neoconservative stupidity...

 

I think they installed a Russian oil nipple to suckle.

 

Of course Germany can’t join - half of your equipment doesn’t work!

 

First of all Iran is not going to shut off the oil supply, and if Washington keeps it from reaching Germany, then they'll get it from Russia.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!



​

 

Iran's not going to do anything unless it's attacked. I'm sure Iran's shipping oil to Turkey and maybe even to Russia, since Moscow has taken over the Chinese market. Also they are all dealing in local currencies and outside the petro dollar, so there is nothing Washington can do.

 

Shirking responsibility. The US Navy should not let any shipping in or out of Iran.

 

They sure like to demand things of everyone.

Yes, the Ameican strategy of demanding will (as always) just increase the possibility of yet another American-instigated war for the purpose of flooding the American Military-Industry Complex with more money out of the pockets of the U.S. tax-payers and NATO membership fees.

Maybe I can learn to like Merkel.