A statement by the leadership of Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD) criticising the US and Israel over their attack on Iran has caused internal strife.
Shortly after the attacks on the Islamist theocracy began on February 28, the AfD’s two chairpersons Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla had put out a statement demanding all parties to the war exercise restraint and respect international law.
The statement read: “We have noted with great concern the attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran. We call on all parties to the conflict to exercise absolute restraint.
“The civilian population and civilian infrastructure must remain protected. International law and international humanitarian law must be fully respected.
“The renewed destabilisation of the Middle East is not in Germany’s interest and must be stopped.”
Yesterday, Chrupalla doubled down on his criticism of Trump, telling TV station RTL: “Donald Trump started out as a Peace President – but finally he will end up as War President.”
The leadership’s position caused unrest within the party, according to German newspaper Welt.
Within minutes of the publication of the February 28 statement on X, AfD MP Andreas Bleck reportedly wrote in an internal Telegram group for AfD MPs reading: “I would like to emphasise that I do not feel represented by the content of these statements. We must agree on our basic foreign policy direction at the appropriate opportunity.”
“Several MPs agreed with Bleck’s position. I do not like this at all either,” MP Uwe Schulz reportedly wrote.
Rainer Kraft, an AfD MP from Bavaria and the party’s speaker for nuclear policy, voiced his criticism publicly on X, writing: “If right-wing patriots sound and express themselves exactly like Annalena Baerbock, then there is a good chance that they are not right-wing patriots at all.”
Annalena Baerbock was Germany’s Greens party foreign minister until 2025. After leaving office she became the President of the UN General Assembly. Baerbock is notorious in Germany for her naïve statements on foreign policy issues.
Wenn rechte Patrioten sich genauso anhören und äussern wie Annalena Baerbock (siehe unten), dann ist die Chance groß, dass es sich gar nicht um rechte Patrioten handelt! https://t.co/wbLcm2Vx1c
— Dr. Rainer Kraft, MdB 🇩🇪 (@Dr_Rainer_Kraft) March 1, 2026
Others moved to defend Weidel and Chrupalla. Matthias Moosdorf, an AfD MP from Saxony, posted a video seemingly defending Iran and criticising the US and Israel, saying: “Iran posed no danger for the US and Israel whatsoever. […] What we have to worry about is that Israel will probably destabilise yet another country.”
Commentators see the Iran debate as more evidence of friction between two movements within the party: a pro-American, libertarian current – which hails from AfD’s beginnings as a party opposed to the Euro common currency – and an anti-US, ethno-nationalist current that is especially strong in eastern Germany.
The anti-US stance may prove risky. Andreas Unterberger, a conservative pundit from Austria, wrote today that the large inflow of voters AfD saw in recent years stemmed from the fact that it opposed migration and Islamisation.
“They are destroying this image and this success these days through their incomprehensible reaction to the war waged by the USA and Israel against the terrorist regime of the Iranian mullahs,” Unterberger wrote.
