Iran: “The federal government lacks a political strategy”

The Iranian judiciary announced on Monday that the death sentence against Sharmahd had been carried out. The German-Iranian, who most recently lived in the USA, was arrested by Iranian authorities in August 2020. According to his family, he was kidnapped to Iran by Iranian intelligence during a stopover in Dubai.

The Foreign Office took action and summoned the head of the Iranian embassy in Berlin. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock ordered the German ambassador in Tehran back. The federal government reserves the right to take further measures.

“Stuttgart News”: “The support among the population for the regime is said to be lower than ever. The protests in 2022 also made this clear. That may also be the reason why they now had Sharmahd executed – to show their own people what the consequences would be if you take action against the regime. The regime in Tehran shouts to cover up its own weakness. Would it have saved Sharmahd if the federal government had shown this consequence early on after the death penalty was announced? . Especially since there are other Germans that Tehran has in its hands. The German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi is innocently imprisoned. Her health is considered critical.”

“Leipziger Volkszeitung“: “Once again, the group of men at the top of the Iranian state is proving their cruelty and their weakness. It is literally robbing the country of its vitality. Because Sharmad, whose murder seems like an attempt to distract from Iranian helplessness against Israeli attacks another victim on a long list. Many of those who rebelled against the regime were shot up in the streets, tortured to death in prisons or killed by an executioner because cruelty and arbitrariness are unbearable and their consequences are so final , weakness is little consolation.”

“Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung”: “Was Germany powerless in this case? Or too reserved? Could Sharmahd have been saved in a prisoner exchange, as his daughter claims? The federal government must ask itself these questions. It is astonishing that a person with local citizenship, who is… He was considered innocently convicted and had to die. And he is not the last political prisoner of the mullahs (…) From a German point of view, the death penalty imposed on Sharmahd will set the relationship with Iran back a long way.

“Märkische Oderzeitung”: “With the killing of Jamshid Sharmahd, Iran shows that it is not only willing to spread fear and terror domestically – but also to risk the recently announced rapprochement with the West. Neither the cautious policy towards Tehran nor the tougher approach In any case, Baerbock has paid off for German-Iranian relations. This raises fears for the Germans who are in Iranian prisons.”

“New Osnabrücker Zeitung”: “The Chancellor is ‘horrified’, the Iranian ambassador was summoned, the German ambassador in Tehran ‘strongly protested against the murder’ and on the international stage the Chancellor’s Office and the Foreign Office are falling over themselves in condemning the execution. That was it now? The honest answer: Probably yes. Because the federal government doesn’t have many more options. The nuclear agreement, which has long been a lever for political negotiations, has actually been put on ice since Donald Trump terminated it. “But the already ridiculously small trade volume of both countries amounts to just over a billion euros.”

“Süddeutsche Zeitung”: “A government that can’t find a language that only protests against the murder of its own citizen can’t find a political strategy either. How are people in Tehran supposed to take the federal government seriously if nothing more than protest follows Sharmahd’s death? A government that who speaks of Hamas as a terrorist organization but still trades with its Iranian friends; who regularly expresses concern about the human rights situation in Iran, where more than 800 executions took place in 2023, but still believes that there is silence Foreign policy is largely done with language. Anyone who ‘protests against the assassination’ without realizing how weak that sounds has given up.”

“Frankfurter Rundschau”: “Injustice makes you angry and when it costs a person’s life, then a feeling of powerlessness remains. The Iranian regime has one more person on its conscience: it killed the German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmad, whom it had previously kidnapped and held captive for years without a fair trial, without reasonable legal representation – without a chance (…) The federal government is once again faced with the dilemma of how to deal with a country that is mistreating its population and financing Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen are keeping the entire region in suspense.”

“Rhine Newspaper”: “The execution comes at a time when Iran is in direct confrontation with Israel – and Germany is firmly on Israel’s side. A few months ago, the federal government also banned the Islamic Center Hamburg, the association that runs the Blue Mosque and was seen as an ‘instrument of the Iranian state leadership’. Germany is increasingly becoming a target and must find a way to defend itself better. That means showing more strength in foreign policy – also so that German citizens are better protected “Not asking too much from one of the most powerful industrial nations in the world.”