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The relations between Germany and Iran have been some of the closest between any western nation and post- 1979 Iran. Yet even before 1979, especially during and before the first Pahlavi Era , Iran and Germany had modest, and yet some of the most cordial relations between any European nation and Iran. Goethe dedication of his '' West-östlicher Divan '' (West-Eastern Divan) to Hafez in 1819 is the starting point of Irano-German relations. The ongoing diplomatic relations between the two officially began in 1952 when Iran opened its first mission office in Germany. HISTORY OF RELATIONS Before 1979 During the Qajar era, with the growing unpopularity of colonial powers in Iran such as Russia and Great Britain , especially after the treaties of Turkmenchay and Gulistan , and the revolt of Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi in the Tobacco Movement of Iran, many Iranian intellectuals began searching for a "third force" that could be relied upon as a potential ally. Germany came up as a candidate by the end of the 19th century. During the Constitutionalist Movement Of Guilan , German soldiers were actively involved in training the popular army of Mirza Kuchak Khan . The most famous German agent in Persia (especially during World War I ) was Wilhelm Wassmuss , nicknamed the "German Lawrence". Patrick Clawson . ''Eternal Iran''. Palgrave. 2005. Coauthored with Michael Rubin . ISBN 1-4039-6276-6 p.48 The shelling of Iran's parliament by the Russians, and the signing of the 1919 Treaty, firmly planted the roots of suspicion against Britain and Russia. By the early 1930s, Pahlavi's nation was still known as Persia. According to Edwin Black , the Shah became a stalwart admirer of Hitler and the concept of the Aryan master race. He also sought the Nazis' help in reducing British petro-political domination {Link without Title} . So intense was the Shah's identification with the to the native people themselves for many centuries, Westerners came to know the nation as Persia through Ancient Greek accounts. The idea for the name change was suggested by Iran's ambassador to Germany, who came under the influence of Hitler's trusted banker Hjalmar Schacht (''Edwin Black, Banking on Baghdad''). In 1941, the Allies forced Reza Shah to abdicate the throne to his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . His pro-Nazi followers in the Iranian government such as Fazlollah Zahedi and Mohammad Hosein Airom shared similar fates. However, post-WWII Iran came under the inescapable diplomatic shadow of the United States , lessening chances of any further deepening between Tehran and Bonn relations. Relations however did continue, both diplomatically and economically. Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant was in fact first designed and partially built by the German Kraftwerk Union of Siemens . After 1979 Hans-Dietrich Genscher was the first Western Foreign Minister to visit the Middle East ern nation after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, visiting Iran in 1984 . However, after the revolution many Iranians who immigrated to or visited Germany faced prejudice as a result of political events in Iran. Although West Germany was a key technology supplier to Saddam during the Iran-Iraq War , especially to Saddam's chemical weapons program, {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title} , Germany also kept open relations with Iran in some industrial and civilian technological sectors. After the war, Germany increasingly became a primary trading partner of Iran, and is still Iran's biggest trading partner, with German goods worth about 3.6 billion Euro s being imported into Iran in 2004 . It is unclear though how long this situation will last considering the current standoff between Iran and the EU/US axis on Iran's Nuclear Program . {Link without Title} The 1992 Mykonos Restaurant Assassinations in Berlin severely soured relations. Relations between Iran and Germany are now likely to head for a serious turnout. In 1999, a German, was arrested in the Persian Gulf and convicted to a prison sentence of 18 months. Also in 2005, hardline Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad stirred relations once again with comments directed against the Jewish Holocaust . {Link without Title} German Chancellor Angela Merkel said February 4 2006 on the occasion of the annual Munich Conference On Security Policy that the world must act now to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, evoking her nation's own history as a cautionary tale of what can happen when threats to peace remain unchecked.
Mrs. Merkel, whose speech came on the same day that the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report Iran's case to the United Nations Security Council , said Germany's own experiences during the 1930's should be a warning over how to deal with Iran.
Mrs. Merkel, discarding any diplomatic niceties and raising her voice in a tone of frustration, said Iran had "blatantly crossed the red line" — and not only with regard to respecting its international obligations as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. She said it was also "unacceptable" for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran to question the extent of the Holocaust and to say that the Israeli regime should "disappear from the pages of time," in a reference to the dismantling of the Zionist regime.
In February 2006, relations further soured after a German paper printed a cartoon depicting Iran's national football team strapped with bombs to their jerseys. Iran demanded an apology from Germany for the "immoral act". Student demonstrations followed in protest to the cartoons, chanting "Merkel=Hitler".[http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=27719&name='Merkel%3DHitler'+say+demonstrators+in+Tehran Recently in am attempt to bring the bring the two nations closer, Germany has issued "Symphonic Diplomacy", Similar to the Ping Pong Diplomacy of the United States with China, by sending a German Orchestra to perform in Tehran . Making it one of the first time these works were played since Western Music was banned by Iran's Government. ECONOMIC RELATIONS In 2005 Germany had the largest share of Iran's export market with $5.67 billion (14.4%). {Link without Title} SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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