BERLIN — German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warns Wednesday that US President Donald Trump’s decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran could further destabilize the Middle East and boost radical forces in the region.
Trump brought back the punishing sanctions after unilaterally pulling out of a landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and Western powers to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“We still think that it is a mistake to give up on the nuclear accord with Iran,” Maas says in an interview with the daily Passauer Neue Presse. “We are fighting for the deal because it also serves our purpose by bringing about security and transparency in the region.”
Noting Iran’s geographic proximity to Europe, Maas warns that “anyone who’s hoping for regime change must not forget that whatever follows could bring us much bigger problems.”
“Isolating Iran could boost radical and fundamentalist forces,” he says, adding that “chaos in Iran, as we have experienced in Iraq or Libya, would further destabilize an already troubled region.”
In a desperate bid to save the nuclear accord, European governments have pledged to do what they can to keep business links with Tehran.
— AFP
Germany Foreign Minister Heiko Maas arrives for a Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ministerial meeting on the Iran nuclear deal on July 6, 2018 in Vienna, Austria. (AFP Photo/APA/Hans Punz)
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