The Iranian regime has accused German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of undiplomatic behaviour after he criticised the regime’s violence against protesters and expressed support for fresh sanctions.
Scholz condemned the “outbursts of violence” on the part of the regime in Teheran.
“What kind of government are you, shooting at your own citizens?” he asked in his weekly video podcast published this weekend, calling for an immediate end to violence against protesters and the release of political prisoners.
The Iranian government rejected the criticism and expressed irritation over Scholz’s words.
“The German chancellor’s remarks were provocative, interfering, and undiplomatic,” Foreign Office spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Sunday according to German media citing the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s website.
Kanaani called on Berlin to act more “responsibly” as sabotaging a historically grown relationship could “leave severe damage.”
Meanwhile, Scholz also came out in favour of additional sanctions against the country, which the EU foreign ministers are set to discuss during their meeting on Monday. “We want to further increase the pressure on the [Iranian] political leadership,” he said.
This could include entry bans and the freezing of assets for over 30 political decision-makers and organisations.
Iran has seen continuous large-scale protests since September following the death of Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf correctly while in police custody. Authorities in the country have reacted harshly and often violently against protesters.
(Julia Dahm | EURACTIV.de)
Source: euractiv.com
