The US sanctions against Iran break many agreements, but at least this is not military escalation, said Alexander Noah, Deputy, the official representative of the Left faction on foreign policy issues in the German Bundestag.
“The fact that Trump resumes to talk about sanctions breaks a lot of agreements, but at least it does not require escalation”, – Noah said, adding that he welcomes the decision of the American leader, because “in any case, this is not an escalation”.
US-Iran relations have further escalated after the death of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in early January as a result of an American special operation. Iran in response fired missiles at bases in Iraq, where the US military is located. According to Washington, none of the US citizens were injured. After the strike, Washington said it would limit itself to introducing new sanctions. Trump further stated that the United States does not want to use its military power, economic sanctions are the best deterrent against Iran.
Earlier, the Iraqi parliament decided to withdraw foreign troops from the country after the assassination of Soleimani. The strike was not coordinated with the Iraqi military. German troops are currently in Iraq as part of the anti-terror coalition forces led by the United States, as well as as part of a mission to train Iraqi troops. Some of them will be transferred to Kuwait and Jordan, DPA reported, citing an internal document from the German Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Defense.
“The Left’s position was that we initially opposed this mission, unfortunately we even unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit in this regard with the Constitutional Court. We opposed this mission, since it violates international law and contradicts the constitution, at least to the extent that regulates the operation in Syria”, – Noah said, adding that the decision of the Parliament in Iraq to withdraw coalition troops from the country is unlikely to have consequences, because “there is a lot of pressure from Americans and Europeans on the Iraqi government”.
He stressed that “Americans and Europeans are not part of the solution there, they represent the biggest problem in the region, they have already brought complete chaos in the territory from Libya to Pakistan”.