Federal Foreign Office Press release 31.10.2024 Iran: Foreign Minister Baerbock on the consequences of the murder of Jamshid Sharmahd

 

Federal Foreign Office Press release 31.10.2024 Iran: Foreign Minister Baerbock on the consequences of the murder of Jamshid Sharmahd  Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock issued the following statement in New York today (31 October) on the murder of the German national Jamshid Sharmahd and the consequences for German-Iranian relations: I would like to express my deepest sympathy once more to the Sharmahd family, in particular to his daughter, who fought tirelessly for her father. Mr Sharmahd, who was abducted to Iran and held for many years without a fair trial, has now been sentenced to death and executed. His murder by the Iranian regime underscores that this oppressive regime continues to act with utmost brutality even after the recent change at the top. Our Embassy in Tehran, we in Berlin, I personally, have intervened unremittingly on Mr Sharmahd’s behalf. His family would now like to be able to take leave of their father and husband. The murder of Mr Sharmahd highlights once more the terrible ruthlessness of the oppressive regime in Iran. First and foremost, it speaks the language of blackmail, threats and violence. Even the most recent comments by the Iranian Foreign Minister, who placed the cold-blooded murder of Jamshid Sharmahd in the context of Germany’s support for Israel, speak for themselves. We repeatedly made it crystal clear to Tehran that the execution of a German national would have serious consequences. I have therefore decided to close the three Iranian Consulates-General in Frankfurt am Main, Munich and Hamburg. The Iranian regime was very much aware of how important the cases of imprisoned Germans are to the German Government. They played a key role in my talks with Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi in New York a month ago. The fact that this murder has come in light of recent developments in the Middle East shows that an oppressive dictatorship such as that of the mullahs does not operate within the boundaries of normal diplomatic logic. It is not without reason that our diplomatic relations are already at a very low ebb. Like no other German Government before us, we have spelled out very clearly the inhumane actions of the Iranian regime during the last few years: its destabilising and harmful role in the region, the supply of missiles to Russia, the support for regional terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis, the direct attacks on Israel using drones and missiles, the untransparent nuclear programme and, not least, the severe repressive measures against its own people, for instance the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. We therefore – I personally in my capacity as German Foreign Minister – initiated a fact-finding mission in the UN Human Rights Council to document the crimes against the Iranian people, in particular women, with the aim of ensuring justice at some point in the future. In the EU we as the German Government, and I as German Foreign Minister, have imposed sanctions against hundreds of individuals in positions of responsibility under various sanctions regimes. Sanctions regimes under the nuclear sanctions, as well as with regard to the human rights violations and, most recently, Iran's support for Russia's war of aggression. These different sanctions regimes against hundreds of individuals in positions of responsibility also cover numerous individuals and entities associated with the revolutionary guards. Only two weeks ago, we in the EU implemented a further package of sanctions which makes it impossible for Iran Air to land in Europe. And it is well-known that I am pressing in Brussels for the revolutionary guards to be listed as terrorists now that we have a ruling from the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court which creates the legal prerequisites for this. In all of this, I want to emphasise that, because we are dealing with an oppressive regime, we are always walking a very fine line. When taking any measure, we have to ask ourselves: how can we hit those responsible within the regime and not the Iranian people. Mr Sharmahd was not the only prisoner held under Iran’s hostage-taking policy. The regime is still keeping other Germans in wrongful detention. We are also duty-bound to help them and are continuing our tireless efforts to bring about their release. For them and for those people in Iran who sincerely care about Germany and everything we stand for – freedom, democracy and human rights – we will keep our diplomatic channels and our Embassy in Tehran open. Just as we have done in Putin’s Russia and in other oppressive regimes. Because closing them would be the greatest favour we could do such regimes. We know there is also another Iran. The “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests are just one example of this. Our Embassy in Tehran will therefore be there for those very people. It will follow developments closely, observe the human rights situation, issue visas and support our imprisoned nationals. Our colleagues are doing important work in an extremely difficult environment and I would like to thank them for that. And let me finish by adding one more comment: the new Iranian Government itself has repeatedly claimed that it wants to reach out to the so-called West. Iran knows which concrete steps would be necessary for that.