Diplomat Jeffrey Sachs believes that China will not come to Iran's military aid against the US. Sachs is highly critical of Merz and Europe.
Jeffrey Sachs, American economist and diplomat, on the reasons for and consequences of a possible US attack on Iran.
What do the US hope to gain from a war against Iran?
This is a war being waged on behalf of the far-right government of Israel. The goal is to establish Israel's regional hegemony in the Middle East and to suppress any demands for an independent Palestinian state as a UN member state. It is not about the Iranian nuclear program, as this was regulated by the JCPOA, which the US rejected. Nor is it about the regime's crackdown on protests, since US Treasury Secretary Bessent already admitted in Davos that the US provoked the protests by causing the collapse of the Iranian currency. Last year, Chancellor Merz said that Israel was doing Europe's dirty work by attacking Iran. That is vulgar. Iran negotiated peacefully with Germany, and it was the US that broke the agreement. Chancellor Merz should tell the German people the truth.
Will China exercise restraint as it did in Syria, Gaza, or Venezuela?
Yes, China will not wage war against the US in Iran. But China will rightly tell the 85 percent of people outside the West that the West is duplicitous, violent, and racist – all of which the war waged by the US and Europe against Iran proves once again.
What is at stake for China and Russia in the Iran conflict?
Much is at stake. Israel claims hegemony over the Middle East, and the US claims hegemony over America, Europe, the Middle East, and large parts of Asia. Both Israel and the US are blinded by their violent pursuit of power. China and Russia will counter this diplomatically by winning over most emerging economies—with the exception of those with US military bases, which are effectively under US occupation.
What does Israel gain from this?
The Netanyahu government is power-hungry. It wants to annihilate the Palestinians once and for all, either through genocide or expulsion. The goal of Israel's far-right government is to prevent any challenge to its military dominance from any country in the Middle East. To achieve this, the government wages wars throughout the Middle East. Ultimately, however, this is turning Israel into a rogue state, hated almost everywhere in the world—except in the Western countries that arm and finance it.
What benefit could the major Arab powers derive from this?
They will lose. Israel and the US have deliberately turned the Middle East into a battlefield – from Libya through Somalia, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen to Iran. The winners are the military-industrial complexes of the US, Europe, and Israel.
What impact did the US economic war, e.g., the harsh sanctions, have on the Iranian population?
The US goal was to inflict mass suffering in Iran. I quote Treasury Secretary Bessent verbatim: “President Trump instructed the Treasury Department to exert maximum pressure on Iran. And it worked, because in December the Iranian economy collapsed. We saw the collapse of a major bank; the central bank began printing money. There is a dollar shortage. Imports are impossible, and that's why people took to the streets. So this is economic policy without any shots being fired, and things are developing very positively here.” Notice how the US Treasury Secretary says things are developing “very positively.” He means that more suffering for the Iranians is good.
Would a regime change alter the situation of ordinary Iranians?
The US and Israel will make life even more miserable for Iranians, just as the US did in 1953 by overthrowing the Iranian government, in the 1980s by inciting Iraq to kill Iranians, and by destroying the Iranian economy. Chancellor Merz seems to be praising all this "dirty work." Look at what has happened in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen over the last 25 years—all the work of repeated regime-change operations by the US and Israel.
Is economic warfare illegal?
Of course it is. No country has the right to use force or threats of force against another country. Blockades, sanctions, and currency collapses are all forms of violence that lead to misery, child mortality, hunger, and other suffering. Every year, the UN General Assembly votes against the use of unilateral sanctions. On June 15, 2025, the UN General Assembly voted 116 to 51 (Resolution A/79/L.93) against the use of “unilateral extraterritorial coercive measures in the economic sphere as a means of political and economic coercion.” Western countries, including Germany, voted against the global majority because the West insists on its supposed right to violate the rights of weaker countries.
Does the law even matter anymore? Trump claims his only limits are his sanity and his "morality"—whatever that may mean.
Trump is increasingly acting like a fascist. However, Europe only protests when Trump threatens Greenland. Otherwise, the US's behavior is tolerated.
How should Europe position itself towards Iran?
Europe should stand up for the UN Charter and peace, instead of tolerating violent regime changes in the Middle East led by the USA and Israel as a Western imperialist power.
Do you believe there is an agreement between Russia and the USA regarding the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran?
No. In my opinion, no such agreement exists.
What does an escalation mean for the Palestinian people?
The Palestinians are being massacred and ethnically cleansed. This is happening with the complicity and partnership of the USA and the European Union.
https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gesellschaft/jeffrey-sachs-china-wird-keinen-krieg-gegen-die-usa-im-iran-fuehren-li.10016686