A German defense attaché attended a military parade in Teheran that included anti-Israel propaganda.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier ordered Germany’s ambassador to Iran, Herbert Honsowitz, to return to Germany on Sept. 27, after learning that he had allowed the attaché to attend the military parade despite the fact that the European Union Ambassador to Iran had advised diplomats not to attend, according to a report in der Spiegel magazine. A banner displayed at the rally reportedly said that “Israel must be erased from the world.”
The parade commemorated the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War.
A department spokesperson told der Spiegel that Steinmeier was “very upset” with Honsowitz. Talks were scheduled to determine whether Honsowitz had properly warned the attaché not to attend, according to Der Spiegel.
“We applaud German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier for having recalled Ambassador Honsowitz to Berlin ‘for consultations,’ said David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee.”To state the painfully obvious, Germany cannot be well represented in Tehran by an ambassador who believes that his task is to cozy up to the Iranian government. After all, it is the very same regime that violates UN Security Council resolutions and International Atomic Energy Agency rules regarding uranium enrichment for nuclear purposes, tramples on human rights, and supports terrorism in the region.”
Meanwhile, it turns out that an Iranian businessman arrested Oct. 5 in Germany on suspicion of supplying illegal exports to Iran was a valued agent of the German foreign intelligence, according to a report in Der Spiegel. The man, who went by the code name of Sinbad, apparently was a double agent who was supplying Iran with equipment to make its Shabah missiles, der Spiegel reported, adding that “Sinbad,”
who holds both Canadian and Iranian citizenship, allegedly delivered to Iran photos of tunnel-drilling equipment and other material relevant to Iranian missile development work.
Reportedly, Germany had paid the man $ 1.4 million for his intelligence over a decade. There are concerns that he could be assassinated if he were freed from prison in Germany, according to der Spiegel.
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