His remarks, at the start of talks with his British counterpart Jack Straw, amount to an admission that, having failed to prevent the war starting in the first place, Berlin now hopes the US-led coalition will win.

"We hope that the regime will collapse as soon as possible and that we will have no further loss of innocent lives, civilians and soldiers," Fischer said in English.

"We hope this war will come to an end as soon as possible."

He said the humanitarian situation in Iraq "is very alarming and concerning for all of us."

Straw said that Britain, which has been the United States' closest ally in the war, still had much in common with Germany despite differences "which have been well aired."

He said the focus was turning to how to manage post-war Iraq and he hoped a peace conference could be held one day, although "we're not there yet, we want to ensure that the military (element) can come to a proper conclusion."

SPACE.WIRE