German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday expressed "great concern" about the "spiral of violence" in the Middle East in a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, his spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said in a statement.

Scholz "appealed to President Pezeshkian to do everything possible to prevent a further military escalation", expressed "great concern about the danger of a regional conflagration in the Middle East" and said "the spiral of violence in the Middle East must be broken now".