TEHRAN – Iran unleashed a blistering condemnation of Germany’s recent maneuvers at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday, exposing Berlin’s “interfering and hypocritical” posturing and calling for accountability for its complicity in human rights violations, both historical and ongoing.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei delivered a searing rebuke of Germany’s co-sponsorship of a resolution extending the mandate of the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, branding it a “politically motivated abuse” of international mechanisms designed to undermine Iran’s sovereignty.

The resolution, pushed through with 24 votes in favor, 8 against, and 15 abstentions, has been seen as another example of Western overreach by Tehran.

Baghaei stated: “Germany exploits the UNHRC to advance its arbitrary stances against Iran, all while shielding its own shameful record of enabling atrocities across the region.”

Germany’s arms to Israeli genocide: a stain on its rights claims

Iran’s indignation centers on Berlin’s role as a key arms supplier to Tel Aviv, a point Baghaei hammered home with unsparing clarity.

“Germany, the second supplier of arms to the genocidal Israeli regime, is complicit in all crimes and egregious violations of human rights and humanitarian law against the innocent people of Palestine and the region,” he declared.

Since October 2023, German authorities have approved a significant spike in arms export licenses to Israel, which include advanced military components such as engine parts used in Merkava tanks—a cornerstone of the regime’s armored warfare strategy targeting Palestinian territories.

“Germany lacks the legal credibility to portray itself as a human rights sympathizer,” Baqaei noted, spotlighting the stark contradiction between Berlin’s sanctimonious rhetoric and its actions.

Several Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, have amplified this critique, arguing that Germany’s silence on Gaza’s suffering while condemning Iran reveals a hollow moral façade.

Chemical catastrophe: Germany’s historical complicity against Iranian victims

Iran’s grievances run deeper than the present, rooted in Germany’s unaddressed role during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988).

Baghaei invoked this painful history, asserting German state and private sectors had collaborated with Saddam Hussein’s regime by supplying the means for chemical weapons that devastated Iranian civilians and soldiers.

Over 100,000 Iranians suffered immediate or lingering effects from these attacks, with countless survivors still battling chronic illnesses decades later.

“Germany must prove its sincerity about justice by accepting Iran’s proposal for a joint fact-finding mechanism to uncover the truth behind its companies’ role in arming Saddam,” Baghaei demanded, echoing Tehran’s longstanding diplomatic push.

He described this as a moral imperative: “If Germany truly values human rights, it must first atone for its part in enabling war crimes against the Iranian people.”

Sharmahd Case: Germany’s meddling exposed

Berlin also supported Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-Iranian citizen and leader of the Tondar terrorist group, held responsible for the 2008 Shiraz Mosque bombing that killed 14 innocents, as well as other terrorist acts, according to his confession to Iran’s judiciary.

Germany’s retaliatory measures following Sharmahd’s death in prison—shutting Iranian consulates and recalling its ambassador—have drawn Tehran’s ire as blatant interference.

“Germany protects terrorists under the guise of human rights while punishing Iran for safeguarding its people,” Baghaei blasted, accusing Berlin of exploiting the case to escalate its anti-Iran agenda.