Number of Far-right Soldiers on the Rise in German Army

German Bundeswehr army soldiers in Bad Reichenhall, southern Germany (Reuters)
German Bundeswehr army soldiers in Bad Reichenhall, southern Germany (Reuters)
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Number of Far-right Soldiers on the Rise in German Army

German Bundeswehr army soldiers in Bad Reichenhall, southern Germany (Reuters)
German Bundeswehr army soldiers in Bad Reichenhall, southern Germany (Reuters)

The number of far-right wing soldiers is on the rise among the ranks of the German army (Bundeswehr), according to the army’s annual report.

The report's alarming numbers prompted Commander of Special Forces Command (KSK) Brigadier General Markus Kreitmayr to address the soldiers in a letter few weeks ago warning against the dangers of such ideologies, noting that the army is going through one of its most difficult stages.

The German Press Agency (dpa) published the letter Tuesday, in which Kreitmayr warned that there remains a number of soldiers who are considered to be members of the far-right parties.

He indicated that such members harm the military institution and the reputation of the special forces and army in general.

Kreitmayr explained that those soldiers are either not loyal to the German constitution, or affiliated with the Reich Citizens' Movement (Reichsburger), or support far-right ideologies, calling on them to resign from the army before they are expelled.

The involvement of soldiers with far-right movements has always been an issue for the German army.

Earlier this month, Saxony local police investigated an elite soldier assigned to Bundeswehr's KSK for breaching Germany's weapons control law.

DPA reported that weapons and explosives were found on the soldier's private property, who was being investigated for his involvement with right-wing extremist groups.

After the arrest, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that “anyone, who is observed acting radically in the Bundeswehr has no place in our armed forces.”

She said that the soldier will not be allowed to enter the headquarters of the German army anymore.

Military intelligence recently increased its scrutiny of suspected extremists within the army's special forces, after a number of politicians and journalists criticized its leniency regarding this issue.

The intelligence report said it had identified 14 red category extremists, including eight classed on the far right-wing, two "Reichsburger", and four Islamists.

Reichsburger is a group that does not believe in German institutions, and its members refuse to pay taxes or carry a German passport.

However, the number of soldiers with right-wing extremism is much higher than that with previous investigations revealing they were more than 550, as the government struggles to contain right-wing threats and violence.

Former defense minister Ursula von der Leyen aimed to cleanse the army of such movements before leaving her position to assume the chair of the European Commission in Brussels.

In one of her statements, de Leyen showed Nazi fatigues worn by German soldiers and ordered the cleansing of the army of all Nazi ties.

The army continued to struggle with such scandals, and last year it apologized after an image of a Nazi-era uniform with swastikas was posted on its social media official account.

The image was quickly removed, and the army said it was an “unacceptable mistake,” admitting that it damaged the reputation of the Germany military and caused “considerable irritation.”



Iran Says Could Abandon Nuclear Weapons But Has Conditions

A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)
A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)
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Iran Says Could Abandon Nuclear Weapons But Has Conditions

A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)
A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)

Iran on Saturday hinted it would be willing to negotiate on a nuclear agreement with the upcoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, but that it has conditions.
Last Thursday, the UN atomic watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution ordering Iran to urgently improve cooperation with the agency and requesting a “comprehensive” report aimed at pressuring Iran into fresh nuclear talks.
Ali Larijani, advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said Iran and the US are now in a new position concerning the nuclear file.
In a post on X, he said, “If the current US administration say they are only against Iran’s nuclear weapons, they must accept Iran’s conditions and provide compensation for the damages caused.”

He added, “The US should accept the necessary conditions... so that a new agreement can be reached.”
Larijani stated that Washington withdrew from the JCPOA, thus causing damage to Iran, adding that his country started increasing its production of 60% enriched uranium.
The Iran nuclear accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was reached to limit the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
The deal began unraveling in 2018, when Washington, under Trump’s first administration, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and re-imposed a sanction regime of “maximum pressure” on Tehran.
In retaliation, Iran has rapidly ramped up its nuclear activities, including by increasing its stockpiles of enriched uranium to 60% — close to the 90% threshold required to develop a nuclear bomb.
It also began gradually rolling back some of its commitments by increasing its uranium stockpiles and enriching beyond the 3.67% purity -- enough for nuclear power stations -- permitted under the deal.
Since 2021, Tehran has significantly decreased its cooperation with the IAEA by deactivating surveillance devices to monitor the nuclear program and barring UN inspectors.
Most recently, Iran escalated its confrontations with the Agency by announcing it would launch a series of “new and advanced” centrifuges. Its move came in response to a resolution adopted by the United Nations nuclear watchdog that censures Tehran for what the agency called lack of cooperation.
Centrifuges are the machines that enrich uranium transformed into gas by rotating it at very high speed, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235).
Shortly after the IAEA passed its resolution last Thursday, Tehran spoke about the “dual role” of IAEA’s chief, Raphael Grossi.
Chairman of the Iranian Parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Ebrahim Azizi said, “The statements made by Grossi in Tehran do not match his actions in Vienna.”
And contrary to the statements of Azizi, who denied his country’s plans to build nuclear weapons, Tehran did not originally want to freeze its uranium stockpile enriched to 60%
According to the IAEA’s definition, around 42 kg of uranium enriched to 60% is the amount at which creating one atomic weapon is theoretically possible. The 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Spokesperson and deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said on Friday that IAEA inspectors were scheduled to come immediately after the meeting of the Board of Governors to evaluate Iran’s capacity, “with those capacities remaining for a month without any interruption in enrichment at 60% purity.”
Iran’s news agency, Tasnim, quoted Kamalvandi as saying that “the pressures resulting from the IAEA resolution are counterproductive, meaning that they increase our ability to enrich.”
He added: “Currently, not only have we not stopped enrichment, but we have orders to increase the speed, and we are gradually working on that."