BERLIN (AP) — German election winner Friedrich Merz's party on Monday approved an agreement to form a coalition government with a center-left rival, bringing him closer to the helm of a leading European power as it grapples with a stagnant economy, the Trump administration's trade policy and the war in Ukraine.
Delegates at a convention of Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union party approved the agreement that was reached earlier this month. German news agency dpa reported that the exact vote count was not released Monday.
The would-be coalition aims to spur economic growth, ramp up defense spending, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernization for the 27-nation European Union’s most populous member.
The deal still has a bigger hurdle to clear before parliament can meet to elect Merz. The junior partners in the prospective coalition, the center-left Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, put the agreement to the ballot of their entire 358,000-plus membership. The results are expected on Wednesday.
There is some resistance in the Social Democrats’ ranks after the party finished third in Germany's election in February with its worst postwar result in a national parliamentary election. The party’s youth wing has come out against the deal.
The CDU is the dominant party in a two-party conservative bloc known as the Union. Its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, already approved the deal.
If the Social Democrats' members approve the deal, the lower house of the German parliament will meet May 6 to elect Merz as chancellor. In that vote, Merz will need a majority of all members of the house to be elected as post-World War II Germany’s 10th chancellor, succeeding Scholz.
The proposed coalition has a relatively modest majority, with 328 of the Bundestag's 630 seats.
Merz's party also on Monday announced its proposed government team, including senior lawmaker Johann Wadephul as foreign minister — a position the CDU last held in the 1960s.
Friedrich Merz, center, leader of the German Christain Democrats (CDU), gestures as he is surrounded by, front row from left, Nina Warken, designated Federal Minister for Health, Johann Wadephul, designated Foreign Minister, Christiane Schenderlein, designated Minister of State for Sport and Volunteering, Thorsten Frei, designated Federal Minister for Special Tasks and Head of the Federal Chancellery, Katherina Reiche, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Karsten Wildberger, designated Federal Minister for Digitization and State Modernization, rear row from left, Michael Meister, designated Minister of State for Federal-State Cooperation, Wolfram Weimer, designated Minister of State for Culture and Media, Karin Prien, designated Federal Minister for Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Patrick Schnieder, Federal Minister for Transport and Serap Güler, designated Minister of State in the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a meeting of a CDU Federal Committee in Berlin, Germany, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)
Johann David Wadephul, designated German Foreign Minister, attends the CDU Federal Committee in Berlin, Germany, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)
Friedrich Merz, CDU candidate for chancellor and federal CDU chairman, attends the CDU federal committee in Berlin, Monday, April 28, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
