After Hamas’ attack on Israel, the federal government sharply criticized Iran and warned the country against further interference. What does this mean for the nuclear agreement with the regime in Tehran?
Iran is on the wrong side of history, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed to the country at the end of last year after the violence against demonstrators. With the Hamas massacres in Israel, Iran is once again coming into focus as the mastermind of terror, said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz in his government statement on Israel.
Without Iranian support in recent years, Hamas would not have been able to carry out these unprecedented attacks on Israeli territory. The jubilant statements from the top of the Iranian regime and some other government officials in the region are abhorrent.
Prevent Iranian nuclear weapons
The federal government is in a foreign policy dilemma. On the one hand, there are harsh words and sanctions, but on the other hand they want to continue to deter Iran from building its own nuclear weapons, says Green foreign policy expert Jürgen Trittin. “It’s not a nice idea to believe that you have a terror sponsor like Iran, which is able to repel and deter military attacks because it has nuclear weapons.”
Preventing Iranian nuclear weapons – that was exactly the goal of the nuclear agreement. Germany, France, Great Britain, the USA, Russia and China signed with Iran in 2015. He was supposed to limit his nuclear program, but in return sanctions were relaxed.
Three years later, however, the USA withdrew under Trump. Iran has also no longer felt bound by the agreement for years and is increasingly enriching uranium to the point where it is almost weapons-grade. Added to this is the devastating human rights situation and now the war in the Middle East.
The partners from back then are no longer there today
The agreement failed, says Trittin, for other reasons as well: the partners from back then are no longer there today, especially Russia. “Russia today depends on Iran to import certain technologies. This is a brotherhood of arms.”
For the Foreign Office, spokesman Sebastian Fischer refers to comprehensive sanctions against Iran, also because of human rights violations. Fischer warns the country in view of the recent contacts with the head of Hamas: “Anyone who is playing with fire in this situation, pouring oil on the fire or igniting it in any other way should really think carefully about it, because we may be facing one here major regional conflict.”
Kiesewetter calls for a change of course
Green politician Trittin promotes diplomacy through the ties of neighboring states – with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. SPD co-leader Lars Klingbeil sees it similarly. “The political pressure on Iran must now be increased, regardless of what attempts were made to reach political rapprochement with Iran a few years ago.”
CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter does not criticize sticking to the nuclear agreement. Similar to Trittin, he believes that this has been over since the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine at the latest. He is now calling for a change of course. In any case, civil society in Iran must be strengthened. Some of them are highly educated and no longer want to have anything to do with the system.
After all the years of the nuclear agreement and Iran’s reluctant participation, Kiesewetter draws a bitter conclusion. “We have to prepare ourselves for the fact that Iran will become an undeclared nuclear power – and thus disrupt the structure in the Near and Middle East. Because then there is also the danger that Saudi Arabia or Turkey and Egypt will push for nuclear weapons .”