Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei sharply criticized Germany’s foreign minister over comments suggesting that Iran should bear the cost of mine-clearing operations in the Strait of Hormuz, accusing Berlin of attempting to shift responsibility while ignoring its own role in the war.
Responding in a statement on X, Baghaei slammed the official’s rhetoric as “utterly shameful” and a “grotesque distortion of reality that reeks of Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faust.”
Faust is one of Germany’s most famous literary works. In the story, Mephistopheles is the devil who tempts Faust, manipulating events through deception, irony, and moral corruption. One of Mephistopheles’ defining traits is his ability to twist truth and present evil as good or justified. By invoking Mephistopheles, Baghaei is portraying Germany as cynical, deceptive, and morally inverted.
The Iranian official also reiterated that Germany must be held accountable for its “complicity in military aggression against Iran” and bear the cost of its participation in the assault, adding that “no amount of offensive posturing will allow the Berlin regime to evade responsibility for its role in this illegal war and the war crimes committed against the Iranian people.”
