The Iranian government reacted critically to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday. Prime Minister Olaf Scholz used a weekly video podcast to express his support for both Iranian protesters and further EU sanctions against Tehran’s regime.
Mr Scholz’s “provocative, intrusive and undiplomatic” remarks will cause “long-term damage”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said on Sunday.
He said the comments risked sabotaging the historic relationship between the two countries.
“We encourage the German government to find a way back to discretion to avoid further disruption of bilateral relations,” Kanani said.
What did Scholz say about Iran?
Scholz said the protests that have swept much of Iran in recent weeks since the death of a young Kurdish-Iranian woman, Gina Martha Amini, in police custody, and the often-violent attacks by Iranian authorities. I was talking about crackdowns.
At one point, he addressed the Iranian government directly and asked:
He said Germany would support EU-level talks scheduled for Monday on further sanctions aimed at “all those responsible for this violence against its own people”. In October, several new EU sanctions were imposed, mostly related to crackdowns as well as allegations that Iran was providing drones to Russia for use in Ukraine.
Scholz’s foreign minister, Annalena Beerbock, is expected to attend the talks in Brussels.
Scholz said the protests, which often begin with young women taking off their headscarves in public, have turned into more than “just a dress code issue.”
“Students, pupils, mothers, fathers, grandparents, they are all fighting for more freedom and justice in the streets,” Scholz said, noting how much courage it took in Germany to do this. He added that it was difficult to understand. oppressive state.
Iran, on the other hand, has called the protests “riots”.
Local state media reported a series of arrests in connection with Sunday’s riots.
However, Tehran’s government has rejected claims by foreign rights groups that more than 14,000 people have been arrested in riots in recent weeks.
Iran last month sanctioned DW’s Persian-language service for reporting protests.
msh/aw (AFP, dpa)
