German-Iranian Economic Relations Under the Shadow of the U.S. Sanctions
The brief hopes of a new boom for Germany’s business with Iran have been rudely shattered by the emergence of renewed US sanctions against Teheran. Notwithstanding the indications of a long-term decline in American dominance, the collapse of German aspirations to fully recapture the Iranian market also reflects the continuing US hegemony within the global system. Facing the contradictory aims to keep up a working relationship with Iran and to humor the USA, German interests in Iran find themselves in a no-win situation. Based upon journalistic sources, this paper provides brief overviews of the history of German-Iranian economic relations and of the contemporary pattern of German-Iranian trade, followed by discussions of the impact of the new round of American sanctions against Iran upon that trade as well as of the US pressure to bring Germany into line with respect to Iran.
