BERLIN, October 17 (DPA/EP) –
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party has called for an end to talks with Iran over the nuclear deal, in response to President Ebrahim Raisi’s crackdown on anti-government protests.
“We have to end the talks,” said the leader of the German Social Democrats who lead the Government, Saskia Esken, in a statement to the ZDF network on Sunday.
“The time has come to say: ‘So far and nothing else,'” Esken added, pointing to the way the authorities treated the people demonstrating recently on the country’s streets, mostly women.
Along with the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France, the German government is participating in negotiations with Tehran to renew the 2015 nuclear deal, which was suspended since Washington withdrew in 2018.
However, there are experts who point out that stopping negotiations would not be a responsible foreign policy action, as it would risk an arms race.
The mobilization for the death of young Mahsa Amini has killed more than 200 people in the country, according to the Iranian non-governmental organization Human Rights, while Tehran has accused the United States and other Western countries of inciting demonstrations.
Mahsa Amini, 22, died in the custody of Iran’s Moral Police after being arrested for wearing the wrong hijab. The protesters accused the security forces of using force, while the police denied all the accusations.
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