NCRI Staff
NCRI – To steer clear of violations of US sanctions, energy and oil companies refused to refuel the airplane that the Foreign Minister of Iranian regime was using. The incident almost impeded Javad Zarif from attending the Munich Security Conference earlier this month.
Munich Airport said that it was not able to purchase fuel from local companies because of their concerns about US sanctions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted to avoid a diplomatic crisis so ordered the country’s Air Force to refuel the plane.
This has provoked comments and criticisms from all over the world on social media. A journalist at The Wall Street Journal, wrote on Twitter: “Germany’s airport refuses fuel to Zarif’s airplane but then German FM issues visa for #Iran top human rights violator for medical treatment!”
This is in reference to the Iranian regime’s official that received urgent medical care in Germany at the end of last year. The official in question is Mullah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi who is a potential successor to the current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Shahroudi has played a big role in the execution of political opponents and prisoners during his time as the justice minister of Iran and there was outrage that he had been allowed to enter Germany for treatment.
Iran’s presence at the Munich Security Conference has always been a source of drama. In 2009, an Iranian official (now the head of Iran’s quasi-parliament) said that Iran has “different perspectives on the Holocaust”.
Iran’s links with terrorist organisations and militias are of concern to many officials around the world and since the protests that started at the end of last year, there has been more and more talk about the corruption in the Iranian government.
This subject was brought up at the Munich Security Conference by US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster who said that when money and resources are being invested in Iran, it is going straight to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He said: “When you invest in Iran, you’re investing in the IRGC. You might as well cut the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a check and say, ‘Please use this to commit more murder across the Middle East.’ And when we look at the biggest trading partners with Iran, we of course see Russia, we see China. But we also see Japan, South Korea and Germany. It’s time to focus business intelligence efforts to figure out who we are really doing business with, and cut off funding.”
These concerns are legitimate and it is important for the international community to realise that investing in Iran really is investing in terrorism.
When the Iran nuclear deal was signed, Iran had access to huge sums of money but none of it got spent on the people. It was the perfect opportunity for the Iranian regime to put the people of Iran first for once, but it never happened. The money went towards terrorism.
The West upholds human rights for its citizens. So, it is only right that it puts human rights before business.
