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Germany Suspends Measures to Promote Business with Iran

A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the country's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul, Türkiye, on September 20, 2022. (AFP)
A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the country's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul, Türkiye, on September 20, 2022. (AFP)
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Germany Suspends Measures to Promote Business with Iran

A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the country's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul, Türkiye, on September 20, 2022. (AFP)
A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the country's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul, Türkiye, on September 20, 2022. (AFP)

Germany's government is suspending state measures designed to foster business with Iran due to the repression of nationwide protests in Iran, the economy ministry said on Friday.

The suspension will affect export credits and investment guarantees as well as Germany's manager training and trade fair programs in Iran, the ministry said.

German-Iranian trade totaled $1.87 billion in 2021, according to Reuters.

The death in custody of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, after her arrest by the morality police for violating Iran's dress code, unleashed years of pent-up grievances in the country over issues ranging from tightening social and political controls to economic misery and discrimination against ethnic minorities.

Moreover, Luxembourg has expressed concern to Iran about one of its residents feared to have been detained and facing execution there, the government said on Friday.

Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn called his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday to address the situation, the statement said.

Luxembourg did not name the detainee but described him as "a resident of Luxembourg of Iranian origin who, according to available information, may have been arrested and condemned to capital punishment."

Tehran has launched a crackdown on a wave of anti-government demonstrations and announced at least 11 death sentences in connection with the protests.

It was not immediately clear whether the Luxembourg resident was among those. But Asselborn used his call "to plead in favor of the Iranian demonstrators risking their lives to win respect for their fundamental rights, and in particular for those who have been sentenced to death."

The statement did not report the Iranian minister's response.

In a related context, the United States has announced another round of sanctions against Iranian officers and the public prosecutor involved in the government’s crackdown on protesters.

The US Department of the Treasury said on Twitter that it was slapping sanctions on Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri for issuing “a directive to courts to act decisively and issue harsh sentences to many of those arrested during the ongoing protests.”

The Imen Sanat Zaman Fara company was also designated by the US because it manufactures equipment used by Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces (LEF).

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Russian War Bloggers Report New Ukrainian Attack in Kursk Region

People wait at a bus stop next to a reinforced concrete bomb shelter installed in a street in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kursk, Russia August 28, 2024. The sign on the construction reads: "Shelter". REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
People wait at a bus stop next to a reinforced concrete bomb shelter installed in a street in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kursk, Russia August 28, 2024. The sign on the construction reads: "Shelter". REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Russian War Bloggers Report New Ukrainian Attack in Kursk Region

People wait at a bus stop next to a reinforced concrete bomb shelter installed in a street in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kursk, Russia August 28, 2024. The sign on the construction reads: "Shelter". REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
People wait at a bus stop next to a reinforced concrete bomb shelter installed in a street in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kursk, Russia August 28, 2024. The sign on the construction reads: "Shelter". REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Ukrainian forces have launched a major new attack in Russia's western Kursk region, Russian military bloggers reported on Sunday.
Ukrainian troops broke across the border in a surprise incursion on Aug. 6, and for the past five months have resisted Russian attempts to expel them.
Reports from the Russian bloggers, who support Moscow's war in Ukraine but have often reported critically on failings and setbacks, indicated that the latest Ukrainian assault had put Russian forces on the defensive.
"Despite strong pressure from the enemy, our units are heroically holding the line," the Operativnye Svodki (Operational Reports) channel said.
It said artillery and small-arms battles were taking place, and Ukraine was using Western-armored vehicles to bring in large numbers of infantry.
The reports, which Reuters could not independently verify, said fighting was concentrated near the town of Bolshoye Soldatskoye.
But one influential blogger, Yuri Podolyak, said this was most likely a Ukrainian distraction manoeuvre, possibly to prepare a strike on Glushkovo, further west. He recommended civilians there and in another town, Korenevo, to evacuate.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia's ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow's forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Russian and North Korean forces had suffered heavy losses.
"In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka, in Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroops," Zelenskiy said. "This is significant."
The president provided no specific details. A battalion can vary in size but is generally made up of several hundred troops.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in response to a question at his marathon annual phone-in last month that Russia would definitely drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk but declined to set a date for when this would happen.
Russia's defense ministry did not mention Kursk in its latest battlefield update on Sunday.
BARGAINING CHIP
Ukraine's unexpected success in biting off a slice of Russian territory and holding on to it since last August could provide it with an important bargaining chip as both sides gear up for possible peace talks this year.
Both have been striving to improve their battlefield positions before US President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20. Trump has repeatedly said he will bring a quick end to the war, but without saying how.
By committing some of its most effective units to the Kursk offensive, Ukraine has, however, weakened the defense of its own eastern regions where Russian forces have advanced since August at their most rapid pace since 2022.
The Ukrainian military said on Saturday that the "hottest" front was near Pokrovsk, an important road and rail hub towards which Russia has been pressing for months.
On Sunday, Ukraine's air defenses shot down 61 out of 103 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack, the air force said. Russia said it had destroyed five Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.