German Chancellor Friedrich Merz again said that the fate of the Iranian regime was numbered. He conveyed this as United States President Donald Trump again threatened a military attack on Iran regarding the crackdown on demonstrators.
“A regime that can only maintain power through violence and terror against its own population: its days are numbered,” said Merz at a press conference with Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on Wednesday (28/1) local time.
“It may only be a few weeks away, but this regime does not have the legitimacy to rule the country,” added Merz as reported by AFP and Al Arabiya, Thursday (29/1/2026).
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“The reported death toll in the thousands during recent demonstrations shows that the mullah regime appears to be able to maintain power only through sheer terror,” the German Chancellor said.
One rights group – the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – said it had verified more than 6,200 deaths in a wave of anti-government demonstrations since late December.
Activists say the actual death toll could be much higher, with an internet outage still complicating efforts to confirm information about the death toll.
Merz also supports Italy’s efforts to ask the European Union to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
“I am very sorry that there are still one or two countries in the European Union that are not ready to support such a designation,” Merz said.
Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday (28/1) warned Iran that time was running out for the country to avoid US military intervention. The warning came after Tehran refused to open the door to negotiations amid rising tensions.
Reported by AFP, Wednesday (28/1/2026), Trump emphasized that he had never ruled out the possibility of a new attack on Iran, following the brutal crackdown on a wave of protests this month. Tensions are also still triggered by the impact of the 12-day war last June between Iran and Israel which was supported and participated in by the US.
“Hopefully Iran will soon ‘Come to the Negotiating Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – without nuclear weapons – a deal that is good for all parties. Time is running out, this really is very important!” Trump said.
Referring to the American attacks on Iranian nuclear targets during the June war which he said resulted in Iran’s “major destruction”, he added: “The next attack will be much worse! Don’t let it happen again”.
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(eng/ita)
