Germany’s Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil has ruled out joining the US-Israeli war in Iran, saying he has “great doubts that this war is legitimate under international law”.

“I say very clearly: This is not our war. We will not participate in this war,” he told media outlet RND, warning of “the great danger that we are sliding ever deeper into a world where there are no longer any rules.

“We do not want to live in a world where only the law of the strongest applies,” he added.

Klingbeil clearly opposed the stance taken by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who had declared that his government shared “the goals of the United States and Israel regarding Iran’s nuclear and missile programme, Tehran’s threat to Israel, and its support for terrorism and proxies”.