Handelsblatt: German cabinet divided over Iran sanction plans
Iran-Germany, Politics, 1/29/2010

German Government is split over controversial plans by Chancellor Angela Merkel to support new sanctions against Iran, business daily Handelsblatt reported Thursday.

The German Economic Ministry has openly doubted the effectiveness of sanctions against Iran amid efforts by Merkel who is a staunch ally of Israel, to press ahead with a new round of punitive measures against Iran over its nuclear program.

Merkel's disputed Iran sanction policy has also sparked renewed tensions with Germany's business community which is eager to continue its lucrative trade with the Middle Eastern country, according to earlier news reports.

The chancellor's hardline stance on Iran sanctions has been met with fierce resistance by German companies feeling abandoned by their government in their efforts not to succumb to US and Zionist political pressure.

German firms are outraged over the fact that even legal business deals with Iran which are not subject to UN sanctions, are being torpedoed by Merkel as well as the US and the powerful pro-Israel lobby.

German companies have remained unfazed by Merkel's policy of discouraging her country's business community from conducting trade with Iran.

German firms are reportedly determined to preserve their ties with Iran which has been one of their most durable trading partners. The Federation of German Wholesale and Foreign Trade (BGA) has earlier labeled Iran sanctions unbearable.

BGA Managing Director Jens Nagel has repeatedly lambasted the Iran embargo as "totally incomprehensible." Nagel has also voiced mounting concern that the German firms were in fact losing the lucrative Iranian market to Asian and European competitors.

The BGA official's assessment was echoed by the Managing Director of the influential German Near And Middle East Association (Numov) Helene Rang who has made clear that a further tightening of sanctions against Iran would "not solve the problem." "The sanctions are backfiring," she stressed.

The head of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Juergen Thumann had warned earlier that companies are to lose their good business contacts with Iran which they have developed over decades as a result of the ongoing US-Zionist political arm-twisting.

Meanwhile, the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) has pointed out that economic sanctions on Iran could cost more than 10,000 German jobs and have a negative impact on the economic growth of Germany.

More than 40,000 German jobs are indirectly affected by German-Iranian trade.

Previous Stories:
  German Greens urge expansion of Iran-US dialogue on Iraq   (9/14/2007)
  Steinmeier reaffirms Iran right to nuclear energy   (10/19/2006)

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