Merz Warns Iran War Has Cost Europe Over €100 Billion in Energy Costs · Clash Reporthttps://clashreport.com/world/articles/merz-warns-iran-war-has-cost-europe-over-100-billion-in-higher-energy-prices-jsx7a2spm4k**
Reza Nasri on X: "Chancellor Merz (@bundeskanzler) has lamented that the Iran war has cost Europe more than €100 billion in higher energy prices and declared that the conflict has no military solution...https://x.com/RezaNasri1/status/2116487565431672946#Chancellor Merz (@bundeskanzler) has lamented that the Iran war has cost Europe more than €100 billion in higher energy prices and declared that the conflict has no military solution.
Apparently, the war became a European concern when its costs appeared on Europe's energy bills.
Not when missiles struck a girls' elementary school in Minab, killing 168 girls in their classrooms, some so horrifically dismembered that they could be identified only through DNA.
Not when missiles struck a sports hall and residential homes in Lamerd, scattering tungsten pellets that killed at least 21 civilians, seven of them children.
Not when US strikes hit bridges and power plants, after Trump openly vowed to "knock out all their power plants."
Not when diplomacy was betrayed. Two days before the war began, Oman's foreign minister, acting as mediator, had announced significant progress in the Geneva negotiations.
Not when the UN Charter was violated.
And not when Merz, alongside Macron and Starmer, condemned Iran's exercise of self-defence "in the strongest terms", while withholding that condemnation from the aggression that had provoked it.
Throughout these events, Merz stood with the attackers. He had already described Israel's 2025 strikes as "the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us." The day after the Minab massacre, he declared that Germany would not lecture its partners about their military strikes.
There was no legal ambiguity here. The UN Charter prohibits the use of force against another state's territorial integrity or political independence, except under the recognised exceptions, including self-defence in response to an armed attack. Iran was at the negotiating table when the war began. Deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians constitute war crimes under international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute, which Germany has ratified. Common Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions obliges Germany to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law in all circumstances.
Europe's €100 billion bill is the price of a political choice. Berlin helped undermine the prohibition on the use of force when the victims were Iranian children. It now laments the economic consequences when those consequences reach European households
...
Reza Nasri on X: "Why should Iran keep doing Europe's "Dirty Work"?
In June 2025, as Israeli bombs fell on Iran, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told ZDF: "This is the dirty work Israel is doing for...https://x.com/RezaNasri1/status/2116788160881393687#mWhy should Iran keep doing Europe's "Dirty Work"?
In June 2025, as Israeli bombs fell on Iran, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told ZDF: "This is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us." His remark revealed more than he perhaps intended. Europe has grown accustomed to others doing its dirty work. For more than four decades, Iran has done its share, standing between Afghanistan's poppy fields and Europe's streets, paying for it in blood and treasure. Iran has no reason to continue shouldering this burden.
These are not Iran's figures. They come from the United Nations. According to UNODC's "World Drug Report 2020", Iran accounted for 91% of global opium seizures and one-third of all heroin and morphine seizures. In 2017 alone, Iran seized more than 630 tonnes of opium, representing over 90% of the global total. In 2024, Iran once again reported the world's largest seizures of opium, morphine and heroin.
The human and financial costs have been enormous. More than 3,700 Iranian police officers and border guards have been killed fighting armed drug-smuggling convoys, and more than 12,000 have been maimed. Iran also spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year securing its eastern borders.
Europe's response has been to sanction the very country doing this work. Sanctions have made it difficult for Iran to purchase even basic equipment, including X-ray scanners for its anti-narcotics units. According to Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, Western countries have fulfilled only 30% of their anti-narcotics commitments. In 2025, Germany, France and the UK triggered the snapback of UN sanctions, after which the EU reimposed its own sanctions, including measures against Iran's Central Bank. Europe cannot strangle Iran's economy, applaud the bombing of its cities and still expect Iranian border guards to keep dying to protect European streets.
...