Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei posted on X, highlighting a shift in Germany's stance regarding the "aggression" against Iran by the US and Israel. He contrasted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's June 2025 remarks on Israeli military actions ("This is Israel doing the dirty work for all of us") with the recent statements made by German Foreign Minister and officials in October 2026 at the Istanbul conference, where they "warned against another attack on Iran and emphasized the need to prevent further escalation." Baghaei also quoted verses from Friedrich Schiller's *The Maid of Orleans* to depict the helplessness of reason being dragged into the abyss by the forces of madness.