NGO blasts increase in German-Iran trade

A German TV program reported last week that German factories had made motors for Iranian UAV’s with attack capabilities also capable of reaching Israel.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
illustrative-ship imports exports 311aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
illustrative-ship imports exports 311aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
BERLIN – The German chapter of Stop the Bomb on Monday slammed Germany’s government and industry for rewarding “the [Islamic] regime’s rampant terror against the Iranian freedom movement.” It alleged that economic statistics indicated Germany continued to increase its trade in recent months with Iran.
Trade boomed in May, according to the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce in Hamburg. German exports (€295 million) to Iran increased by 26 percent as compared to the same month in 2009. Imports soared by 34%.
German exports to Iran climbed by 11.5% in the first five months of 2010 (to €1.536 billion) compared to the same period last year, the Chamber of Commerce wrote on its Web site.
“These figures, as well as reports on illegal German supplies to the Iranian arms industry, show that even in the face of new UN sanctions, German industry has not been discouraged with regard to business with Iran. The regime’s rampant terror against the Iranian freedom movement seems to act as an incentive. Apparently they are preparing for the long existence of the Islamic Republic and for good German-Iranian trade relations,” Stop the Bomb spokesman Andreas Benl told The Jerusalem Post.
“Nor has the German federal government sent any strong signals as yet that they are going to use the new sanctions as a reason to change policy toward the Iranian regime. On the contrary, the scandalous trip by the foreign policy spokesperson of the FDP’s parliamentary group to Teheran, as well as reports spread by the Iranian press of boasting about the the German parliament’s anti-Israeli resolution, suggest the opposite,” Benl said.
A German TV program reported last week that German factories had made motors for Iranian UAV’s with attack capabilities also capable of reaching Israel.
However, Tobias Pierlings, a spokesman for the German Economics Ministry, wrote to the Post on Monday that “the remaining trade with Iran does not endanger Israel’s security” because it only involves the export of civilian products that require permits. “Beyond the existing sanctions, the federal government actively advises against trade with Iran in the energy sector within the framework of the discouragement strategy,” he said.
“The trade statistics on a monthly and quarterly basis are subject to heavy fluctuations. It is therefore not a suitable basis for statements on long-term tendencies. Looked at over the course of years, German exports to Iran have been declining overall,” he said.