Recent attacks on anti-regime protesters in Germany come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the extent of Iran’s terror networks in the country. On Monday evening, eight people were arrested in Hamburg after a vigil for victims in Iran and Syria was attacked outside the city’s town hall. Days earlier, two Iranians were seriously injured in a knife attack shortly after attending an anti-regime protest.
These incidents raise troubling questions: Has Germany’s situation deteriorated so badly that even here, those standing up for peace and freedom in Iran cannot be sure of their safety? Can Iranians—many granted asylum—still rely on German state protection?
For years, Germany has been accused of pursuing what critics call a “soggy appeasement policy” towards the mullah regime, making the struggle against it more difficult and putting lives in danger.
Trade over human rights
Historically, Germany prioritized trade relations with Iran over human rights concerns. “Germany loves Iran,” wrote the Wall Street Journal in 2008, criticizing the country’s “booming trade” despite U.S. sanctions.
Following threats and sanctions during President Trump’s first term, German exports to Iran fell by 49% in 2019. Only then did Germany ban Mahan Air from its airspace, citing its role in transporting troops and equipment for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to conflict zones like Syria.
While trade is no longer a major factor, Germany still exported goods worth €1.3 billion to Iran in 2024, including machines and chemical products. The German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce Association in Hamburg remains active, describing itself as “the premier platform for fostering economic relations” between Germany and the Islamic Republic. When Trump threatened tariffs against countries trading with Iran in January, he likely had Germany—Iran’s biggest EU trade partner—in mind.
The post-Cold War myth of “Wandel durch Handel” (regime change through trade), popular among Germany’s elites, has been thoroughly discredited.
Networks of influence
The deeper problem, however, isn’t that Iranian pistachios remain on sale but that the Iranian regime has expanded its networks in Germany for years with little resistance.
The Islamic Centre Hamburg (IZH) exemplifies this failure. Despite appeals from Iranian dissidents and Germany’s Jewish community, the IZH wasn’t banned until 2024—decades after it became an instrument of Iran’s regime. In justifying the ban, the government described it as “a direct representative of the Iranian revolutionary leader” that “propagated the establishment of authoritarian Islamic rule” and spread the ideology of the Islamic Revolution “in an aggressive and militant manner.”
Why did action take so long? The IZH had served the regime since the 1979 revolution. “Whoever led the IZH went on to have a career in Iran’s regime,” wrote Stefan Hensel, Hamburg’s commissioner for antisemitism, in May 2023. Among its leaders were Mohammad Beheshti, who became chief justice and oversaw countless executions, and Mohammad Khatami, who became Iran’s president.
The IZH’s closure, while welcomed, won’t significantly undermine Iranian influence. Iran has engaged in increasingly brazen espionage, threats, and terror:
- 2016: Espionage and threats against the president of the German-Israeli Association, with reports that Iran planned revenge attacks on pro-Israel politicians if Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities.
- 2018: Police raids across Germany targeting suspected spies working for Iranian intelligence.
- 2022: Synagogues in Germany’s Ruhr region were attacked by a network linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- 2025: Police arrested a Danish man with Afghan roots accused of scouting terror targets in Berlin for an Iranian elite unit.
Naivety and cowardice
Germany’s blindness toward Iran is difficult to explain in hindsight. While granting asylum to many dissidents, Germany also admitted supporters of the Islamist regime.
Driven by latent—and sometimes open—anti-Americanism, many German politicians and members of the elites dismissed American warnings, engaging in dangerous complacency. Progressive circles even showed fascination with Iran’s system. Well-off progressives paid substantial sums for study trips to Iran (countless offers on Google show it has been a lucrative market).
At the height of this era, the government believed it could neutralize Islamists by integrating them into official structures. The IZH became a founding member of the government-supported Central Council of Muslims in Germany, whose representatives regularly appear on news programs as “the voice of Muslims in Germany.” Its membership was suspended after the organization was banned.
What started as naivety has continued as outright cowardice. Even after the October 7th attack on Israel, Germany maintained a low profile. In November 2023, Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad wrote on X, “Today I walked out of a meeting with the German government because they tried to censor me… I was told the meeting had to be kept secret and I couldn’t mention it in the media or write about it on my social media.” She had been attempting to convince the government to meet with an Iranian opposition group—a request the government refused for fear of alienating Iran.
Gazelle Sharmahd, daughter of executed German-Iranian citizen Jamshid Sharmahd (executed in Iran in 2024), also offered sharp criticism: “Why is there a debate in Germany about whether an arrest warrant should be issued for Benjamin Netanyahu, but not about where the arrest warrants against the Islamic regime are?”
Hiding behind others
The danger Iran poses is no longer underestimated, but the cowardice remains. Last June, Chancellor Merz greeted Israel’s attack on Iranian military and nuclear targets by saying Israel was doing “the dirty work for us.”
Now, confronted with Iranians taking to the streets, Merz has announced expectations that these will be the regime’s last days or weeks. “When a regime can only hold on to power through violence, then it is effectively finished,” he said.
The bravery of Iranian demonstrators—many of whom have paid with their lives—highlights the German government’s fearfulness and shames us. As people in Iran are dying, Germany has still not categorized the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization nor expelled Iran’s ambassador.
The large solidarity demonstrations in Hamburg, Berlin, and other cities are sources of hope and must continue. Recent events in Hamburg have shown that Iran’s Islamist system threatens us all.
Germany’s Iran Problem: The Price of Appeasement
People hold up pre-Islamic republic Iranian flags with the Lion and Sun emblem and portrait of the son of the last shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Reza Pahlavi, during an anti-Iranian regime rally outside banking district in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on January 17, 2026.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
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Recent attacks on anti-regime protesters in Germany come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the extent of Iran’s terror networks in the country. On Monday evening, eight people were arrested in Hamburg after a vigil for victims in Iran and Syria was attacked outside the city’s town hall. Days earlier, two Iranians were seriously injured in a knife attack shortly after attending an anti-regime protest.
These incidents raise troubling questions: Has Germany’s situation deteriorated so badly that even here, those standing up for peace and freedom in Iran cannot be sure of their safety? Can Iranians—many granted asylum—still rely on German state protection?
For years, Germany has been accused of pursuing what critics call a “soggy appeasement policy” towards the mullah regime, making the struggle against it more difficult and putting lives in danger.
Trade over human rights
Historically, Germany prioritized trade relations with Iran over human rights concerns. “Germany loves Iran,” wrote the Wall Street Journal in 2008, criticizing the country’s “booming trade” despite U.S. sanctions.
Following threats and sanctions during President Trump’s first term, German exports to Iran fell by 49% in 2019. Only then did Germany ban Mahan Air from its airspace, citing its role in transporting troops and equipment for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to conflict zones like Syria.
While trade is no longer a major factor, Germany still exported goods worth €1.3 billion to Iran in 2024, including machines and chemical products. The German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce Association in Hamburg remains active, describing itself as “the premier platform for fostering economic relations” between Germany and the Islamic Republic. When Trump threatened tariffs against countries trading with Iran in January, he likely had Germany—Iran’s biggest EU trade partner—in mind.
The post-Cold War myth of “Wandel durch Handel” (regime change through trade), popular among Germany’s elites, has been thoroughly discredited.
Networks of influence
The deeper problem, however, isn’t that Iranian pistachios remain on sale but that the Iranian regime has expanded its networks in Germany for years with little resistance.
The Islamic Centre Hamburg (IZH) exemplifies this failure. Despite appeals from Iranian dissidents and Germany’s Jewish community, the IZH wasn’t banned until 2024—decades after it became an instrument of Iran’s regime. In justifying the ban, the government described it as “a direct representative of the Iranian revolutionary leader” that “propagated the establishment of authoritarian Islamic rule” and spread the ideology of the Islamic Revolution “in an aggressive and militant manner.”
Why did action take so long? The IZH had served the regime since the 1979 revolution. “Whoever led the IZH went on to have a career in Iran’s regime,” wrote Stefan Hensel, Hamburg’s commissioner for antisemitism, in May 2023. Among its leaders were Mohammad Beheshti, who became chief justice and oversaw countless executions, and Mohammad Khatami, who became Iran’s president.
The IZH’s closure, while welcomed, won’t significantly undermine Iranian influence. Iran has engaged in increasingly brazen espionage, threats, and terror:
Naivety and cowardice
Germany’s blindness toward Iran is difficult to explain in hindsight. While granting asylum to many dissidents, Germany also admitted supporters of the Islamist regime.
Driven by latent—and sometimes open—anti-Americanism, many German politicians and members of the elites dismissed American warnings, engaging in dangerous complacency. Progressive circles even showed fascination with Iran’s system. Well-off progressives paid substantial sums for study trips to Iran (countless offers on Google show it has been a lucrative market).
At the height of this era, the government believed it could neutralize Islamists by integrating them into official structures. The IZH became a founding member of the government-supported Central Council of Muslims in Germany, whose representatives regularly appear on news programs as “the voice of Muslims in Germany.” Its membership was suspended after the organization was banned.
What started as naivety has continued as outright cowardice. Even after the October 7th attack on Israel, Germany maintained a low profile. In November 2023, Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad wrote on X, “Today I walked out of a meeting with the German government because they tried to censor me… I was told the meeting had to be kept secret and I couldn’t mention it in the media or write about it on my social media.” She had been attempting to convince the government to meet with an Iranian opposition group—a request the government refused for fear of alienating Iran.
Gazelle Sharmahd, daughter of executed German-Iranian citizen Jamshid Sharmahd (executed in Iran in 2024), also offered sharp criticism: “Why is there a debate in Germany about whether an arrest warrant should be issued for Benjamin Netanyahu, but not about where the arrest warrants against the Islamic regime are?”
Hiding behind others
The danger Iran poses is no longer underestimated, but the cowardice remains. Last June, Chancellor Merz greeted Israel’s attack on Iranian military and nuclear targets by saying Israel was doing “the dirty work for us.”
Now, confronted with Iranians taking to the streets, Merz has announced expectations that these will be the regime’s last days or weeks. “When a regime can only hold on to power through violence, then it is effectively finished,” he said.
The bravery of Iranian demonstrators—many of whom have paid with their lives—highlights the German government’s fearfulness and shames us. As people in Iran are dying, Germany has still not categorized the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization nor expelled Iran’s ambassador.
The large solidarity demonstrations in Hamburg, Berlin, and other cities are sources of hope and must continue. Recent events in Hamburg have shown that Iran’s Islamist system threatens us all.
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