Days after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to walk away from the Iran nuclear deal, Germany has joined hands with its arch-rival Russia in order to rescue the troubled agreement. As part of a diplomatic campaign to rally support for the agreement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel dispatched Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to Moscow on Tuesday.
“Iran deal crisis triggers rare show of unity between Moscow and Berlin,” commented Germany’s state-run DW News. “Both Germany and Russia believe the deal should remain in force,” the broadcaster added.
Merkel’s government has come under increased pressure from German corporations that are set to lose billions when the U.S. sanctions snap back following President Trump’s pull out from the Iran deal. German companies like Daimler, Siemens, and Airbus have been among the leading beneficiaries of the open Iranian market in the wake of the 2015 agreement.
Germany could refuse to join the U.S. in tightening sanctions against Iran, but then those German companies that decide to keep their operations in the country could lose access in the U.S. market.
German weekly Der Speigel covered German Foreign Minister’s visit to Moscow:
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov affirmed their commitment to the Iran deal. “It is important for all countries that want to uphold the deal to talk to each other,” Lavrov said during Foreign Minister Maas’s maiden visit to Moscow.Maas stressed that it was vital that Iran upheld its obligation under the agreement. Russia could use its influence over the government in Tehran in this regard. [Translation by the author]
German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported Thursday’s visit with the headline: Maas and Lavrov want to save the nuclear deal. “Since taking office, [Mass] had been exceptionally critical of relations between the two countries,” the newspaper explained.
It was an awkward visit for the newly appointed German foreign minister who recently called Russia an “aggressor” and accused the Putin regime of acting “increasingly hostile.” The mutual dislike was palpable during the visit as the customary “handshake didn’t take place; Maas and Lavrov hardly made eye contact; [both] looked serious; no smile graced their faces,” German newspaper Die Welt observed.
Not leaving this blitz diplomacy to her rookie foreign minister, Chancellor Merkel will soon visit Moscow to personally enlist President Vladimir Putin’s support.
The news of President Trump’s dropping out of the nuclear deal was met with more anti-American sloganeering in Tehran. On Wednesday, Iranian lawmakers burned American flags in the parliament and chanted “Death to America,” something the minions of the Islamic regime have routinely done since 1979.
Undeterred by deadly proclamations coming from Iran’s top governing body, Chancellor Merkel called Iranian President Hasan Rouhani to “affirm Germany’s commitment to the deal,” a spokesman for German government confirmed on Thursday.
Having learned nothing from the past, Chancellor Merkel wants to contain Iranian regime’s triumphalist ambitions through the defunct policy of appeasement. If German history is any guide, this won’t end well.
Video: Iranian parliamentarians chant ‘Death to America’, burn American flag in the parliament
[Cover image via YouTube]
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