"German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said there are moments when acting too late can carry historic consequences as he addressed reporters following a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Speaking in a video released on Wednesday amid an intensifying US-Israel military campaign against Iran, Merz reflected on the dilemma facing Western governments as the conflict escalates. "There can also come a time when it is too late. And I do not wish to be held jointly responsible for a moment that came too late," he said, adding, "Because one day, we will no longer be asked, 'Did you do everything according to international law?' Instead, we will be asked, 'Why didn't you prevent this sooner?'" Merz also stressed that Berlin remains committed to upholding international law. "As the Federal Republic of Germany, as the Federal Government of our country, we want to repeatedly emphasise that we want the rules of international law to be upheld. And we are certainly not applying double standards here," he said. However, the chancellor questioned how governments should respond when adversaries do not abide by the same framework. "We really must ask ourselves: what do we actually do when the rules of international law visibly reach their limits and we are dealing with adversaries who are unwilling to act according to the rules of international law?" Merz added that some have raised the issue of whether an imminent threat from Iran justifies pre-emptive action. "If one applies the rules of international law here, one could even raise the question of whether an imminent danger and threat from Iran were impending. So these are questions that are legitimately being asked," he said. Moreover, Merz argued that the primary objective of the recent strikes was strategic rather than symbolic. "The primary goal here was to strike a sensitive blow against this regime after it showed itself unwilling to achieve solutions at the negotiating table." The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Tehran said it was responding with strikes on Israel and US assets in the region, with explosions reported in countries right across the Gulf region. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was confirmed dead in a strike on Saturday. It comes after a number of rounds of talks between the Americans and Iranians. Merz and Trump were set to discuss the EU's position on tariffs following the US Supreme Court ruling against the president's flagship policy, but the attack in Iran was expected to dominate the agenda. "