The German government and the European Union have decided to sit out the revolutionary movement in Iran in favor of nuclear negotiations. There is no other way to explain Europe’s minimum sanctions against the regime and the German Foreign Minister’s manageable commitment.
The intersection of content with Ms. Baerbock’s own political objective of founding a feminist foreign policy for Germany could not be greater. Because the protests in Iran were started by courageous women who, after the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini by the regime, took off their headscarves and took to the streets en masse.
I, too, have long considered the nuclear deal (JCPoA) with Iran to be the best of all the bad solutions. But it has been clear for some time that the regime is no longer interested in an agreement and that the goal is clear: Iran’s nuclear weapons capability is to be increased to such an extent that it can credibly use weapons at any time.
For this reason, the European proposals to revive the nuclear deal were rejected by the regime last summer. Meanwhile, nuclear facilities have been clandestinely modified, just confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and uranium enrichment has been ramped up.
Clinging to the JCPoA in this situation is illusory. Our best hope for an Iran without a nuclear bomb is the people there and the success of their revolution. We should count on them and do everything possible to support their struggle for freedom.
Irrespective of how long it will take for the people of Iran to get rid of the mullahs’ regime, the Iranian women have already achieved a great success: they have managed to win over large sections of Iranian society to work together for their to stand up for rights and a free Iran.
The regime has recognized the seriousness of the situation and has taken up the fight for its own political survival. It strikes back with extreme brutality. Imprisonment, torture, rape and murder are the order of the day. Almost 20,000 demonstrators were arrested and almost 600 were killed.
The violence of the regime is strongest in the areas of the minorities, without it being widely reported in our country. It is the women and men in Balochistan who continue to take to the streets every Friday in a death-defying manner.
For reasons of political credibility alone, Germany and Europe should clearly side with freedom. Because Iran is about nothing less: Freedom or terror is the alternative that people in the country face. I wonder if our federal government has really understood the scope of what is happening in Iran.
Is the German foreign minister clear that a success of the revolution would be a world event in a positive sense? Millions of people would free themselves from oppression and live self-determined lives for the first time. But that’s not all: the consequences would go far beyond Iran.
A successful revolution in Iran would be a beacon of hope for all who continue to live in fear that democratic change is possible. The dynamics of the entire region to which the regime exports terror would change for the better and the danger of an Iranian nuclear bomb for Europe would be significantly reduced, if not completely averted.
German foreign policy could be part of this development by unequivocally taking the side of the people of Iran through clarity and determination. Unfortunately, the opposite is the case: for months we have been hearing excuses from the Foreign Ministry as to why the Revolutionary Guard has not yet been listed as a terrorist.
Alternately, legal requirements are cited that have long since been fulfilled in reality, blocking states are named, which then express themselves in a completely different way, or the EU is held responsible for inaction.
When I asked whether the Federal Foreign Office would be informed in advance about the activities of the EU foreign representative Josep Borrell, who is known to be against a terrorist listing and for the resumption of the nuclear negotiations, the ministry had to admit that Borrell was only acting in coordination with the member states – so coordinated with Germany and in the knowledge of the German Foreign Minister.
Solidarity with the women and men in Iran that Ms. Baerbock promised them looks different. But it’s not too late for the announced feminist foreign policy. It just needs to be done quickly, decisively, and with a 180-degree turn on Iran.
