German Chancellor urges against escalation in the Middle East

Following a suspected Israeli retaliatory attack on Iran, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned against further escalation in the Middle East.

“Everyone must ensure now and in the near future that there is no further escalation of the war,” Scholz said on Friday.

He stressed that the position urging restraint is shared by Germany and its allies, but declined to comment further on reports of Israeli strikes on targets in Iran.

Scholz acknowledged on Friday only that there had been “renewed military activity” overnight. Israel has not commented publicly on the reported attack.

Scholz’s comments came while attending a conference of his centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) on the German North Sea island of Norderney.

According to US media reports, one or more Israeli missiles were used to attack a target in Iran. There were initially no reports of damage.

Last weekend, Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles, almost all of which were intercepted by Israeli and allied air defences, in retaliation for a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus.