Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that Germany had resumed talks with Iran after a fragile truce was reached between Tehran and Washington that could lead to peace negotiations.
“After a long period silence, which we had serious reasons for, we are now as a government restarting talks with Tehran,” Merz told reporters, adding that this would being done “in coordination with the United States and our European partners.”
There have been no high-level talks between Berlin and Tehran since summer 2025.
Relations deteriorated at the beginning of the 2020s when Germany, along with the other E3 countries, France and the United Kingdom, criticised what they saw as Iran’s non-compliance with the landmark international nuclear deal, which effectively collapsed in 2018 after the US withdrawal.
The E3 group later triggered the snapback mechanism which saw previously suspended sanctions reimposed.
Berlin was also critical of the Iranian government’s heavy handed response to widespread protests in 2022 after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly.
And in 2024, Germany announced it would close all three Iranian consulates in response to the execution German-Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd on charges of plotting and directing terrorist attacks.
In recent weeks, the French government has had official contact with Iranian authorities and Spain announced on Thursday that it would reopen its embassy in Tehran.
Jeapardising peace talks
Merz also said that the continued Israeli military campaign in Lebanon could jeopardise peace talks expected between the United States and Iran over the war in the Middle East.
“We view the situation in southern Lebanon with particular concern,” Merz said.
“The severity with which Israel is waging war there could cause the peace process as a whole to fail, and that must not be allowed to happen.”
US President Donald Trump claimed victory in the war after agreeing a two-week truce to allow talks between US and Iranian negotiators.
But calls have grown for the fragile agreement to be expanded to cover Lebanon amid the continued Israeli offensive in the country.
Lebanon was drawn into the war after Hezbollah launched rocket fire on Israel to avenge the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel then invaded and staged air raids across Lebanon in a campaign that has killed more than 1,500 people, according to Lebanese authorities.
Merz said Germany wants to see “a swift end to a military escalation that is increasingly destabilising the Middle East.”
Additional sources • AFP