Press statement: Protest against German 100-million Euro deal with Iran
The Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin severely protests against the approval of the 100-million Euro deal of the German company STEINER (SPG Steiner-Prematechnik-Gastec GmbH) with Iran. The company will construct three new gas liquefaction facilities in Southern Iran with a daily capacity of 10.000 barrels. The German regulatory agency BAFA permitted the deal to move forward.
As the Iranian state owned broadcast station PRESS TV correctly reported, the decision “comes at a juncture in which the West, particularly the US has warned foreign companies against doing business in Iran’s oil and gas sector.”
Iran’s economy depends on Western technology especially in the oil and gas sector, the main source of income in Iran, and is thus vulnerable for sanctions and economic pressure.
Only recently Iran had to accept a heavy setback in the sector of gas liquefaction by the withdrawal of the French company TOTAL from all gas projects. Once again it becomes obvious that the German government undermines Western efforts to exert effective pressure on the Iranian government and to force it to take painful decisions. German companies supply Iran with important technology, while the Iranian government is not changing its position on the nuclear issue, human rights questions, and the support for international terrorism or the threats to Israel.
The Siegener Zeitung reports that particularly Hartmut Schauerte of the Christian Democatic Union party (CDU), a long-time member of the German Bundestag, worked on the completion of the deal. Schauerte is undersecretary of state for the German economics ministry in chancellor Merkel’s cabinet.
In a declaration at the 60th anniversary of Israel, the Federal Executive Board of the CDU stated: „Whoever denies the Holocaust and threatens Israel with annihilation, has to be isolated by the international community. […] The CDU therefore advocates to exhaust all means o fthe international community and Germany to deter Iran from a nuclear arms program by diplomatic and economic sanctions.“
The STEINER-deal shows that declarations like these have no consequences. Sanctions are considered to be obstacles for German exports to Iran. At best one tries to follow terms and conditions, but not the intention of the sanctions.The 100 million-Euro-deal is a devastating signal that strengthens the Iranian government in their radical policy, while the Iranian government is threatening the world with missile tests, categorically refusing a stop of the enrichment of uranium demanded by the UN-security council and announcing its refusal not to cooperate with the IAEA.
The MFFB demands that the German government immediately rescind the liquefied gas deal, impose unilateral effective sanctions against Iran, and to promote the implementation of sanctions on EU- and UN-level.
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Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin, 28.7.2008