Attending on behalf of the EU, Ms Merkel blasted Iran for their displays of aggression towards other countries, before urging Iran to work with the bloc for a “political solution” to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. She told a crowd in Sharm El Sheikh: “We Europeans have again committed to the nuclear agreement but we can also see aggressive tendencies of Iran and therefore the question is how does the Arabic League treat Iran but also how are we Europeans dealing with Iran – another commonality we have to discuss.” The German Chancellor then went on to discuss the situation in Yemen in a speech that saw her condemn Iran for “suppressing minorities”. She added: “As the second conflict I’ve named the terrible humanitarian situation in Yemen. Here we have first rays of hope because of the Stockholm process and we have to support the work of US delegate Griffith so that we can achieve long-term and sustainable ceasefire especially in the city Al Hudaydah and can then start to find a political solution step by step.
“I do not believe that you can get peace by suppressing minorities and this is my basic understanding and I also made this clear.”
The summit, attended by world leaders, comes amid rising tensions between Iran and other nations such as the US, which pulled out of the nuclear arms deal when President Donald Trump won the 2016 election.
After Mr Trump pulled out of former president Barack Obama’s 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action he issued crippling sanctions on Iran in a bid to freeze its nuclear programme.
The EU, Russia and China urged Mr Trump to remain in the pact, which the American dubbed a “horrible, one-sided deal” that left Tehran with the resources to fuel conflict in the Middle East.
The economic sanctions he inflicted were designed to cut off Iran’s ability to fund terrorism and weapons proliferation.
Despite opposition from the bloc, Mr Trump said he wants to get tougher still with Iran, and use “a more comprehensive deal that addresses the full range of the regime’s malign activities, including its ballistic missile program and its support for terrorism”.
Additional reporting by Monika Palenberg.