Economics Minister Guy Parmelin.
Keystone-SDA
Due to the war in Iran, the Swiss government is no longer authorising any new arms exports to the United States. Existing licences and exports of other goods will be regularly reviewed by a group of experts.
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The government made its decision at its meeting on Friday. It based its decision on Switzerland’s neutrality and the provisions of the War Materiel Act.
“The export of war materiel to countries involved in the international armed conflict with Iran cannot be authorised for the duration of the conflict,” the government wrote in a statementExternal link.
Defence Minister Martin Pfister said the Swiss government did not fear a backlash from US President Donald Trump. The government’s application of the law of neutrality comes as no surprise to foreign countries, Pfister said at a press conference on the 2026 Armed Forces Dispatch in Bern in response to questions from journalists. “The US knows the maxims of Swiss foreign policy.”
In initial reactions to the government’s decision, the industry association Swissmem spoke of a “premature statement of neutrality”. For the left-wing Social Democratic Party the decision did not go far enough, while the right-wing Swiss People’s Party reckons the government had no other choice.
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Regular reviews
In practice, the decision concerns the US. “No definitive licences for the export of war materiel to Israel have been granted for a number of years,” the government said. The same applies to Iran. According to the statement, no new licences have been issued for exports of war materiel to the US since the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran began on February 28.
According to the statement, the existing licences can continue to be used. According to the government, it has come to the conclusion that they have no relevance to the war against Iran. However, a group of experts with representatives from the economics ministry, the foreign ministry and the defence ministry “will regularly review developments in exports of the goods in question to the US and assess whether any action is required under neutrality law”.
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The group of experts will also examine exports of goods that can be used for both civilian and military purposes, as well as specific military goods such as training aircraft or military simulators. There are also plans to review exports of goods that do not fall into this category but are affected by sanctions against Iran. “A restrictive approach is already in place with regard to Israel,” the government said.
According to international law expert Evelyne Schmid from the University of Lausanne, it would be legally possible to stop transactions that are already underway. “The legal basis for precisely such cases stipulates that the authorities can also revert to authorisations that have already been granted. It can suspend them, it can even revoke them,” Schmid told Swiss public television SRF on Thursday.
Adapted from German by AI/ts
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