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).
