Germany has summoned the US ambassador, amid outrage over suspicion that Washington tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone, as she faced allegations she had naively played down the NSA spying scandal.
After a brief meeting at his office with US envoy John B Emerson, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle demanded that Washington provide straight answers on the allegations immediately, saying the health of the relationship was at stake.
"For us, spying on close friends and partners is totally unacceptable. This undermines trust and this can harm our friendship," he told reporters in German then in English.
"We need the truth now."
The ministry could not confirm that the summons was unprecedented in US-German post-war relations, but it was seen as a highly unusual move between the close allies.
Earlier, Merkel, heading into a European Union summit in Brussels where the growing spy scandal has hijacked the agenda, had expressed her anger over the latest reports.
"Spying between friends, that's just not done," Merkel said.
Federal prosecutors say they'll launch an investigation as to whether German laws had been broken, while a parliamentary committee said it would re-open a probe of the matter.
A member of the committee says that a delegation of MPs will head to Washington soon on a fact-finding mission, following media reports that US officials met with Merkel's staff in Berlin on Wednesday before the allegations were made public.
Merkel had called US President Barack Obama on Wednesday demanding answers, after learning US spies may have monitored her phone, warning this would be "breach of trust" between international partners.
A White House spokesman says it is not now listening in on Merkel, but did not deny the possibility her communications may have been intercepted in the past.
Reports said that the alleged tapping targeted not Merkel's official mobile phone, but a separate device she uses for conducting business for her Christian Democratic Union party.
German and US intelligence agencies cooperate closely on counter-terrorism efforts and other matters related to espionage.
But the latest revelations threaten the personal trust and close cooperation between Obama and Merkel, which saw the US leader pay a long-awaited visit to Berlin earlier this year.
As the NSA scandal raged in Germany during the campaign for the September election, Obama indicated that his personal ties with Merkel meant he had no need to spy on her.
"If I want to know what Chancellor Merkel is thinking, I will call Chancellor Merkel," he said in July.
Merkel grew up in communist East Germany, where state surveillance of citizens was rampant.
Germans also carry the trauma of mass abuses by the security services under the Nazi regime.
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