{"id":323626,"date":"2026-03-06T00:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/principle-vs-power-merz-trump-the-iran-war-berlin-briefing-podcast\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:00:30","slug":"principle-vs-power-merz-trump-the-iran-war-berlin-briefing-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/principle-vs-power-merz-trump-the-iran-war-berlin-briefing-podcast\/","title":{"rendered":"Principle vs power: Merz, Trump &amp; the Iran War | Berlin Briefing Podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.ytimg.com\/vi\/RTmTLu1_IAs\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Principle vs power: Merz, Trump &amp; the Iran War | Berlin Briefing Podcast\"><br \/> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RTmTLu1_IAs\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>The US\u2011Israeli strikes on Iran have pushed the Middle East into a new, dangerous phase \u2014 and left Germany stuck between principle and power. Chancellor Friedrich Merz flew to Washington anyway, where Donald Trump dominated their Oval Office appearance but praised Germany for granting access to US bases and treating Berlin as a reliable partner. Merz avoided calling the strikes illegal, even as critics argue they lack a solid basis in international law. Berlin Briefing host Nina Haase and her guests Michaela K\u00fcfner and Ines Pohl discuss the strategic calculation: challenge Trump and risk losing influence, or stay aligned and hope to shape what comes after the conflict \u2014 despite Germany having little say in how the operation unfolds.<br \/>\nIn this episode, we break down Germany\u2019s bind: stick to international law or play hard\u2011nosed power politics in a world where legal arguments seem to matter less and alliances matter more.<\/p>\n<p>Chapters:<br \/>\n00:00 Intro<br \/>\n01:40 Merz\u2019s dilemma<br \/>\n03:25 Pedro Sanchez<br \/>\n04:33 Inside the Oval Office<br \/>\n06:15 The US and the Iran war<br \/>\n09:06 Spain<br \/>\n12:20 Trump\u2019s Oval Office Press conferences<br \/>\n16:40 Divided Europe<br \/>\n19:00 Drones<br \/>\n19:40 International law<br \/>\n26:00 Viktor Orban<br \/>\n27:50 Behind the scenes<br \/>\n31:20 US Midterms<br \/>\n33:50 End<br \/>\n#berlinbriefing<br \/>\n#dwgermanpolitics<\/p>\n<p>DW Berlin Briefing on<br \/>\nApple Podcasts: https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/dw-berlin-briefing-inside-german-politics\/id1775699172<br \/>\nSpotify: https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/07Wp4c6w9qVIYmB7JIbFBZ<br \/>\nSubscribe Berlin Briefing Newsletter: https:\/\/corporate.dw.com\/en\/newsletter-registration\/a-15718229<br \/>\nFor more news go to: https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/top-stories\/s-9097<br \/>\nFollow DW on social media: \u25baInstagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dwnews\/\u25baTikTok: https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@dwnews \u25baFacebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/deutschewellenews\/\u25baTwitter: https:\/\/x.com\/dwnews<br \/>\nF\u00fcr Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/dwdeutsch<br \/>\nSubscribe: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/deutschewelleenglish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US\u2011Israeli strikes on Iran have pushed the Middle East into a new, dangerous phase \u2014 and left Germany stuck between principle and power. Chancellor Friedrich Merz flew to Washington anyway, where Donald Trump dominated their Oval Office appearance but praised Germany for granting access to US bases and treating Berlin as a reliable partner. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":323627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130889],"tags":[132343,132624,149698],"actors":[],"class_list":["post-323626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dw-news","tag-iran","tag-strikes","tag-us-israeli"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Principle vs power: Merz, Trump &amp; the Iran War | Berlin Briefing Podcast | News ISC Videos<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Watch Principle vs power: Merz, Trump &amp; the Iran War | Berlin Briefing Podcast for free, here on News ISC. 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