BERLIN/PARIS: For a self-described Transatlanticist like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the language has been unusually blunt. When President Donald Trump asked countries to join a global effort against Iran and deploy ships to prise open the Strait of Hormuz, whose near closure has held ​the global economy in a vice, he was rebuffed by some of America’s closest allies. Merz told German lawmakers on Wednesday he agreed Iran must not be allowed to pose a threat to its neighbors but expressed doubts about the rationale behind the US-Israeli war.

“To this day, there is no convincing plan for how this operation could succeed. Washington has not consulted us and did not say European assistance was necessary,” he told lawmakers.

• Europeans push back against Trump on Iran

• Say they were not consulted, don’t understand aims

• Transatlantic ties already under strain