German government protects terror bank

STOP THE BOMB September 9, 2010

The Hamburg-based Europäisch-Iranische Handelsbank (EIH) has been blacklisted for sanctions in the U.S. as the American Treasury Department reported yesterday.

Previous news reports suggest that Germany did protect the Iranian-owned bank before the EU sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran were issued on July 26th.[1] The New York Times reported on a phone call by U.S. President Obama to German chancellor Merkel, who refused to sanction the EIH.[2]

According to U.S. Treasury Department official Stuart Levey, EIH is responsible for support in the Iranian nuclear program.[3]

„We urge chancellor Merkel to ban EIH. Germany has to get active regarding Iran sanctions. The claim of the German government to prevent Iran from getting nuclear, while intensively sustaining trade relations with Iran, is just lip service“, said Michael Spaney, spokesman for the STOP THE BOMB coalition against nuclear armament of Iran.

German trade volume with Iran increased extensively in the first months of 2010 despite sanctions.[4]

Until today the European Union has yet failed to determine precise regulations enforcing the imposed sanctions.

BAFA, the export control authority of the German Economy Ministry said in a phone call that a date for the commencement of EU sanctions hasn't been set yet. There is either the day of their announcement, July 26th, 2010 or the not yet defined date when the regulations of the sanctions will be issued by the EU.

Therefore STOP THE BOMB demands from the German government and all EU-heads of government to set the enactment date of EU sanctions to July 26th and not on the coming date of the regulating order.

Similar to the case of EIH, Stuart Levey from US-Treasury put several German companies on his sanctions list.[5] Mainly the Dusseldorf based Ascotec and IFIC as well as some subsidiaries of them are subject to the US ban. It is not known if the German authorities have started to investigate the involvement of these companies in Iran's nuclear weapons program

IFIC also holds 4, 5 % of Germany's steel giant ThyssenKrupp which has considerable exports to the now sanctioned Iranian energy sector.[6]

A vast amount of German engineering exports to Iran is still not affected by the current EU sanctions. To exert decisive pressure on Iran a ban on these businesses is necessary says the STOP THE BOMB campaign.

Rally for the immediate closure of the European-Iranian Trade Bank (EIH) in Hamburg, Germany