Las visitas de los líderes europeos a la Casa Blanca desde la vuelta de Donald Trump a la presidencia estadounidense son visitas de riesgo. Nunca se sabe si el inquilino del Despacho Oval los va a tratar con la debida cortesía diplomática o si va a atizarles por cualquier cuestión, cierta o falsa. El francés Emmanuel Macron supo pasar el examen, pero ayer el alemán Friedrich Merz fue incapaz.

Todo iba bien hasta que Trump empezó a atacar al británico Keir Starmer y, sobre todo, al español Pedro Sánchez, que ha prohibido que Estados Unidos use las bases españolas para los ataques contra Irán alegando que el ataque viola la Carta de Naciones Unidas. En anteriores ocasiones, como sucedió con Macron cuando Trump atacó al ucraniano Zelensky, unos salen a defender a otros. Pero Merz asintió mientras Trump cargaba contra Starmer y Sánchez e incluso le dio la razón en algunos momentos.

Puede pasar como una anécdota, pero en los usos diplomáticos europeos es una afrenta. Las diferencias se solucionan en casa, en Bruselas, ni se airean fuera ni se deja de defender a un socio europeo cuando un tercer país le ataca. Merz recibió ayer críticas de buena parte de la prensa de su país y de analistas de think tanks. Tras la reunión con Trump, y ya en una conferencia de prensa en solitario fuera de la Casa Blanca, el alemán dijo que había hablado en privado a Trump para defender a Starmer y a Sánchez, y que no lo hizo en público para no empeorar las cosas.

Pero el daño estaba hecho. El semanario ‘Der Spiegel’, probablemente el más influyente del país, comentaba este miércoles que “la aparición del canciller en el Despacho Oval fue vergonzosa”.

La actitud de Merz tiene una explicación. Desde que la semana pasada Estados Unidos e Israel lanzaron el ataque contra Irán, Berlín se puso incondicionalmente del lado de Donald Trump y del primer ministro israelí Benjamin Netanyahu, investigado en la Corte Penal Internacional y a quien, por ejemplo Sánchez, llama “genocida” por los más de 70.000 muertos en Gaza en los últimos dos años, más de la mitad menores de edad.

Merz llegó a decir que no era el momento de hablar de si el ataque era legal o ilegal a la luz del derecho internacional ni tampoco de “dar lecciones a los aliados”. Alemania teme sobre todo el impacto económico de una bronca con Donald Trump, porque Estados Unidos sigue siendo un socio comercial muy importante en un momento en el que la industria alemana pierde más de 10.000 empleos industriales al mes por la competencia china.

Mientras nadie en Europa esperaba ningún tipo de crítica a Trump por parte de la italiana Giorgia Meloni, una de sus mejores aliadas en Europa, sí se esperaba que la reacción de Merz se asemejara más a la del francés Emmanuel Macron o a la del español Pedro Sánchez, aunque fuera con otra retórica. Pero Merz se ha ido quedando solo en su apoyo incondicional que no quiere ni recordar la necesidad de respetar la Carta de Naciones Unidas, mínimo común denominador que aceptan la mayoría de los países europeos.

La preeminencia alemana en Europa hace que esta situación complique las reacciones de las instituciones europeas. La ‘canciller’ Kaja Kallas hizo malabarismos retóricos la noche del domingo para conseguir sacar un comunicado que respaldaron los 27 cancilleres. A fuerza de ser un comunicado que prácticamente no decía nada sustancial. El presidente del Consejo Europeo, el ex primer ministro portugués António Costa, que se supone que habla en nombre de los 27, tuvo duras palabras contra Irán (porque en eso sí concuerdan los 27) pero tampoco ha levantado excesivamente la voz contra Trump.

Macron había dicho la noche del martes que el ataque era “ilegal” y este miércoles llamó a Sánchez para mostrarle su solidaridad por el ataque de Trump. Igual que la presidenta de la Comisión Europea, Úrsula Von der Leyen. La estrategia de Merz de no contradecir nunca a Trump delante de las cámaras intenta evitar que vuelva la guerra de amenazas de aranceles, pero el haberse sentado en silencio mientras Trump atacaba a sus homólogos británico y español conlleva que se le critique por aplicar una política de apaciguamiento que con Donald Trump nunca ha parecido funcionar.

Iran postponed a planned farewell ceremony in Tehran for its late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed Saturday in U.S.-Israeli strikes as part of Operation Epic Fury.

The three-day program was scheduled to begin Wednesday at 10 p.m. local time at Imam Khomeini Prayer Hall, where large crowds were expected to gather to pay their respects, according to Tasnim, a semi-official Iranian news agency. 

Hojjatoleslam Seyed Mohsen Mahmoudi, head of the Islamic Propaganda Coordination Council of Tehran Province, said the postponement followed widespread requests to participate and the need to provide adequate infrastructure and facilities to accommodate attendees.

«It was decided to hold the ceremony at a more appropriate time,» he explained.

No additional reason for the postponement was given, and it was not immediately clear when the ceremony would be rescheduled.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Iranian leadership in a post on X that any successor who tries to «destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people» will be an «unequivocal target for elimination.»

«It does not matter what his name is or the place where he hides,» Katz said.

TRUMP SAYS US SANK 10 SHIPS IN IRAN STRIKE, ‘LAST, BEST CHANCE’ TO ACT

Portraits of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, right, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are carried by scouts in Beirut, Lebanon, on Nov. 24, 2025. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)

The funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, drew massive crowds in the country’s capital on June 11, 1989, with an estimated 10.2 million people in attendance, roughly one-sixth of the nation’s population at the time. 

According to Guinness World Records, it drew the largest percentage of a population ever recorded at a funeral.

IRANIAN JOURNALIST URGES TRUMP TO ‘FINISH THE JOB,’ SAYS IRANIANS FEAR ‘WOUNDED REGIME’

A huge crowd gathers around the container covering Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s tomb at Behesht Zahra cemetery in Tehran on June 7, 1989. (Christophe Simon And Pascal George/AFP via Getty Images)

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Khamenei’s death triggers a closely watched succession process overseen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the clerical body responsible for appointing the supreme leader.

«The IRGC is a key stakeholder in this process, and will heavily influence its outcome,» Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered one of his bluntest defenses yet of President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran Tuesday, sharply rejecting criticism and describing the regime as «lunatics» as he argued the president acted at the right moment to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

«Let me explain to you guys this in simple English, okay? Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics,» Rubio told reporters.

«They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons,» Rubio said. «This is the weakest they’ve ever been. Now is the time to go after them.»

Rubio said Trump made the «right decision» to dismantle Iran’s military capabilities before they could shield a nuclear program.

«The president made the decision to go after them, take away their missiles, take away their navy, take away their drones … so that they can never have a nuclear weapon,» Rubio said.

He acknowledged «there will be a price to pay,» but argued it would be far lower than allowing Iran to become nuclear-armed.

«That is a much lower price to pay than having a nuclear armed Iran,» he said.

Rubio grew visibly sharper when pressed on whether Israel dictated the timing of the operation.

«Your statement is false,» he told one reporter who suggested the U.S. acted because Israel was about to strike.

Rubio confirmed Monday that Israel was prepared to act independently.

«We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces,» Rubio said. «And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them … we would suffer higher casualties.»

He emphasized Tuesday that the decision ultimately rested with President Donald Trump.

«The president determined we were not going to get hit first,» Rubio said. «If you tell the president of the United States that if we don’t go first, we’re going to have more people killed and more people injured, the president is going to go first.»

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said after a classified briefing that Israel was «determined to act … with or without American support,» and that U.S. officials concluded «a coordinated response was necessary.»

«I am convinced that they did the right thing,» Johnson said.

Despite Rubio’s harsh rhetoric toward Iran’s clerical leadership, administration officials have emphasized that the mission is not aimed at overthrowing the regime but at dismantling its military capabilities.

U.S. Central Command released footage showing strikes on Iranian mobile missile launchers. (@CENTCOM via X)

Rubio repeatedly framed the operation as focused on destroying Iran’s ballistic missiles, launchers, drone capabilities and naval assets.

«Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,» he said. «It cannot have the things it was hiding behind to have a nuclear weapons program.»

SEN. KENNEDY PRAISES TRUMP’S RESOLVE ON IRAN, SAYS ‘WORLD IS SAFER TODAY BECAUSE OF WHAT HE’S DONE’

So far, U.S. and Israeli strikes largely have targeted missile infrastructure and military facilities. Officials have not indicated that nuclear enrichment sites have been the primary focus of the campaign.

Some Democrats questioned whether the administration demonstrated an imminent threat to the United States.

People gather in Revolution Square to mourn the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed Feb. 28 in a joint Israel-U.S. operation, in Tehran, Iran, March 1, 2026.  (Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)

«There was no imminent threat to the United States of America by the Iranians. It was a threat to Israel,» Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said after the briefing. «We equate a threat to Israel is the equivalent of an imminent threat to the United States. Then we are in uncharted territory.»

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said after the classified briefing, «I have no idea what the objective is, and I didn’t get any additional clarity.»

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Rubio brushed aside the criticism, predicting opponents would emerge from briefings claiming they «didn’t hear anything» while insisting the administration complied with congressional notification requirements.

«This is an action by the president to address a real threat,» Rubio said. «The world will be a safer place when these radical clerics no longer have access to these weapons.»

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