Germany dismisses regime change in Iran as unrealistic, warns of chaos risks

Germany's foreign minister on Tuesday rejected the idea of pursuing regime change in Iran and warned that any resulting chaos would harm the region and Europe.

"A controlled regime change is, I would say, a hypothetical idea which is not realistic," Johann Wadephul told the Europe 2026 conference, emphasizing that all past regime change efforts have failed.

"If you look at what happened in Iraq, what happened in Libya, the examples are bad enough, and we should learn a lesson out of this," the minister said, adding that there could be no military solution to the conflict.

He reiterated Germany's desire for a swift end to the fighting and called for intensified diplomatic efforts to establish a post-war security framework in the region, once the US and Israel conclude they have met their military objectives.

"Chaos in Iran is as bad as the regime is," Wadephul said and warned that this could destabilize the region and trigger new refugee crises.

"It's not in our interest, not in the interest of the region, and of course not in the interest of the people living in Iran," he said.