After US envoy criticism, German president will not honor Iran’s regime
German Foreign Ministry still slated to celebrate ‘antisemitic’ regime
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALIranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) shakes hands with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Tehran February 2, 2016(photo credit: REUTERS)
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will break with diplomatic tradition in the federal republic and not send a congratulatory telegram to the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran this month, it was announced on Saturday.The Steinmeier announcement follows intense criticism from US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who had said on Thursday: “Germany has a moral responsibility to say to Iran very firmly and clearly that it is unacceptable to deny basic human rights to your people, or kill protesters in the streets or push gay people off buildings. Celebrating the regime’s ongoing existence sends the opposite message.”Fox News first reported Grenell’s criticism of German government policy toward Iran’s regime.The newspaper Die Welt, quoting a spokeswoman for the Federal President’s Office, reported that “in light of the current developments in Iran in recent months, there will be no telegram from the federal president this year.”Iran’s regime murdered as many as 1,500 protesters in November who demonstrated against the regime and its economic mismanagement. The clerical regime launched missile attacks against US military personnel in Iraq last month, causing traumatic brain injuries to 64 soldiers.Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also shot down a Ukrainian commercial plane last month, killing all 176 passengers.However, The Jerusalem Post confirmed via Foreign Ministry sources that Germany’s foreign ministry, run by Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, will celebrate the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran this week, as well as the Iranian mullah regime. February 11 marks the National Day of Iran. Grenell tweeted the Welt article with a copy to Maas’s Twitter account.Germany’s Kurdish community urged Maas not to celebrate Iran’s regime.“This shows disrespect to the victims of the Mullah regime,” wrote the Kurdish community in a statement last week. Mehmet Tanriverdi, an executive board member of the Kurdish organization, said: “We are asking the federal foreign minister to finally stop courting the religious-fascist regime in Tehran. Germany has a historical responsibility that cannot simply be pushed aside.”The US State Department designated Iran’s regime as the worst state sponsor of terrorism.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said last month during a congressional hearing that Tehran is the top state sponsor of Holocaust denial and antisemitism.