Iran Condemns Germany, France Ahead of EU Sanctions

Demonstrators during a 'Freedom' protest on Ukraine and Iran in Cologne last week (dpa)
Demonstrators during a 'Freedom' protest on Ukraine and Iran in Cologne last week (dpa)
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Iran Condemns Germany, France Ahead of EU Sanctions

Demonstrators during a 'Freedom' protest on Ukraine and Iran in Cologne last week (dpa)
Demonstrators during a 'Freedom' protest on Ukraine and Iran in Cologne last week (dpa)

European Union foreign ministers are due to impose more sanctions on Iran on Monday, while Tehran condemned France and Germany for their positions on the Iranian protests.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry described German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's pledge to intensify pressure on Tehran as "provocative, interfering, and undiplomatic."

Scholz had spoken about the protests sweeping Iran and announced his support for imposing new EU sanctions on Iran.

At one point, he addressed the Iranian government directly, asking: "What kind of government does it make you if you shoot at your own citizens? Those who act in such a way must expect us to push back."

Meanwhile, German police announced that a man attacked Iranians in Berlin at a protest in support of women's freedom and democracy in their homeland.

On Saturday night, the police said a 26-year-old man destroyed banners and threatened some Iranian activists with a knife. No one was injured, and the man was arrested, police added.

The German State Protection Office, which handles terrorist attacks, was involved due to suspicions that the attack was politically motivated.

Commenting on the German positions, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that some human rights claimants had forgotten their dark record against the "dignified and resistant people of Iran" while offering blind and inhumane support for the regime of former Iraqi President Saddam and maintaining the unjust US sanctions after its withdrawal from the nuclear agreement.

Kanaani noted that "they are also keeping silent vis-a-vis the ISIS terror acts, the latest of which is the terrorist group's attack on Shah Cheragh Shrine."

He noted that Germany presented itself as a human rights defender by evading its international responsibility to respect the right of state sovereignty while harboring anti-Iran terrorist and separatist groups and adopting a selective and "double standard approach towards the crimes committed by the child-killing Zionist entity."

The spokesman reiterated that Iran had a long list of human rights demands from the German authorities, so Berlin had to be responsibly transparent regarding its past.

Kanaani called on German officials to restore rationality to the mutual ties and prevent more turmoil, adding that "respect for common interests was the only way for lasting cooperation."

Tehran also criticized French President Emmanuel Macron, who received four Iranian activists, including the daughter of one of the victims of the recent protests, describing his statement as "regrettable and shameful."

During the meeting on the sidelines of a Paris Peace Forum, Macron emphasized France's respect and admiration in the context of the revolution they are leading.

Macron received a delegation of four Iranian women: Masih Alinejad, a New York-based Iranian activist who encourages Iranian women to protest against the obligatory headscarf, Shima Babaei, who campaigned for justice for her disappeared father, Ladan Boroumand, the co-founder of Washington-based rights group Abdurrahman Boroumand Center, and Roya Piraei whose mother Minoo Majidi was killed by security forces at the start of the protest crackdown.

After the meeting, Macron told a conference in Paris of his "respect and admiration in the context of the revolution they are leading."

Referring to Alinejad, Kanaani said it was "surprising that the president of a country that stands for freedom would degrade himself by meeting" her, alleging that she had "tried to spread hate and carry out violent and terrorist acts in Iran and against Iran's foreign diplomatic missions."

Alinejad wrote on Twitter: "In my bilateral meeting with the French President, I said what's happening in Iran is a revolution. France can be the first country to recognize it. Instead of Islamic Republic (officials), meet opposition figures in future and prepare EU to accept a secular Iran."



Thiel’s Palantir Dumped by Norwegian Investor over Work for Israel

The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
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Thiel’s Palantir Dumped by Norwegian Investor over Work for Israel

The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)

One of the Nordic region's largest investors has sold its holdings in Palantir Technologies because of concerns that the US data firm's work for Israel might put the asset manager at risk of violating international humanitarian law and human rights.

Storebrand Asset Management disclosed this week that it had "excluded Palantir Technologies Inc. from our investments due (to) its sales of products and services to Israel for use in occupied Palestinian territories."

The investor, which manages about 1 trillion crowns ($91.53 billion) in assets, held around 262 million crowns ($24 million) in Palantir, a spokesperson told Reuters. A representative for Palantir, based in Denver, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Storebrand said Palantir had not replied to any of its requests for information, first lodged in April. The data analytics firm, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, provides militaries with artificial-intelligence models. Earlier this year, it agreed to a strategic partnership to supply technology to Israel to assist in the ongoing war in Gaza.

Palantir has previously defended its work for Israel. CEO Alex Karp said he was proud to have worked with the country following the Hamas attacks in October last year and in March told CNBC that Palantir had lost employees and that he expected to lose more over his public support for Israel.

Storebrand's exit follows a recommendation from Norway's government in March warning businesses about engaging in economic or financial activity in the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, the asset manager said in its third-quarter investment review published on Wednesday. The International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest court, said in July that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories including the settlements was illegal.

Israel's foreign ministry rejected that opinion as "fundamentally wrong" and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can be reached only by negotiations.

Storebrand said its analysis indicated that Palantir provides products and services "including AI-based predictive policing systems" that support Israeli surveillance of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Palantir's systems are supposed "to identify individuals who are likely to launch 'lone wolf terrorist' attacks, facilitating their arrests preemptively before the strikes that it is projected they would carry out," Storebrand said.

It added that, according to the United Nations, Israeli authorities have a history of incarcerating Palestinians without charge or trial. A UN Special Rapporteur said in a 2023 report that "the occupied Palestinian territory had been transformed as a whole into a constantly surveilled open-air prison."

Israel rejected the UN's findings. In September Reuters reported that Norway's $1.7 trillion wealth fund may have to divest shares of companies that violate the fund watchdog's tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel's operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.