German chancellor claims US is being 'humiliated' by Iran in Middle East conflict

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz claimed to students Monday that Iran is humiliating the United States in the Middle East conflict by getting the U.S. to change its travel plans to Pakistan for peace negotiations.

The White House said last week it planned to send envoys to Pakistan, including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, but President Donald Trump called the trip off on Saturday because of a lack of progress in the talks and suggested further engagement could take place remotely by phone.

The German leader said he "hopes" the conflict will end quickly but that he does not see the exit strategy the U.S. is hoping to use. 

"The Iranians are obviously very skilled ⁠at negotiating, or rather, very skilful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad ​and then leave again without any result," he said, according to Reuters. "An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible."

Merz said he was not notified of the looming attack on Iran prior to the start of the conflict and that if he had been, he would have made his objections to the military strikes more clear.

"If I had known that it would continue like this for five or six weeks and get progressively worse, I would have told ​him even more emphatically," ​Merz insisted.

The comments come the same day Iran offered a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war with the U.S., but it would postpone negotiations on removing its stockpiles of enriched uranium.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.