German Foreign Minister Haiku Mas on Wednesday rejected his country´s refusal to participate in a US-led military mission to secure the shipping line in the Strait of Hormuz.
"The German government will not participate in the naval mission prepared and proposed by the United States," Mas said in the Polish capital Warsaw.
"We are in close coordination with our French partners," Mas said.
Mas attributed his country´s refusal to Berlin´s view that the US strategy of imposing "maximum pressure" on Iran is wrong.
The minister, who belongs to the Social Democratic Party, said that Germany does not want a military escalation and that it is still counting on diplomacy.
The United States has asked Germany and other NATO countries to participate in Operation Sentinel to protect merchant ships from possible Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.
German Defense Minister Energret Kramp-Karnbauer said shortly before Mas´s statement that no decision had yet been made on the US request.
Kramp-Cranbauer played down US hopes of receiving a positive response, noting that Germany and the Europeans were interested in maintaining a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, in contrast to the United States.
The minister pointed out that the difference of opinion of the Europeans about the Americans on this subject will be included in the reasons for the decision on the US demand.
Kramp-Cranbauer said her country was doing everything possible to reach a diplomatic and peaceful solution with Iran and to maintain an agreement aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
