A large majority of Germans support the Chancellor’s Olaf Scholz’s decision to increase pressure on the Iranian regime regarding their violent crackdown of protests in the country.
For a long time, Scholz decided not to make public comments about the situation in Iran, where the govenrment have been using force to put down protests since September. However, on 12 November he broke his silence when he appeared on a video podcast and asked rhetorically of Iran “What kind of government are you that shoots at its own citizens?” and added “Anyone who acts like this must reckon with our resistance”.
These comments were followed on 14 November by an announcement by the EU to pass new sanctions on Iran, including entry bans and frozen assets for senior members of the Iranian authorities.
Polling carried out by the opinion research Civey on behalf of Der Spiegel has shown that two-thirds of Germans think it is right that Scholz wants to increase pressure on the Iranian leadership and the Revolutionary Guards. Conversely, just 22% think that is completely wrong or quite wrong. The highest level of approval is among supporters of the Green party, whereas a majority of supporters of the far-right AfD are against it.
The respondents to the survey were also asked about their opinion on Germany continuing negotiations over a nuclear agreement with Iran. 60% are in favour of such negotiations, with just one in four against them. A nuclear deal was signed with Iran in 2015 but was unilaterally terminated by President Donald Trump in 2018. Whilst President Biden has said he favours a new deal, so far negotiations have proved unsuccessful.
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