Berlin, 12/11/2024

The fall of Bashar al-Assad marks the end of an era for Syria and the entire region. The Syrian dictator was responsible for the deaths of more than 500,000 people, more than 12 million lost their homes, and 14 million are dependent on humanitarian aid. [1] Assad's rule stands for mass murder and flight, oppression, torture, poverty and violence.

The Islamic Republic of Iran and the “Axis of Resistance” orchestrated by Tehran, the network of terrorist militias and dependent states, has also been weakened. With Syria, this axis loses a crucial logistical hub; the already decimated Hezbollah loses its supply route through Syria to Iran. What the overthrow means for the Syrian population and especially for minorities, and what shape relations with Israel will take, is still uncertain.

What is clear, however, is that the weakening of the “Axis of Resistance” will also have consequences for the stability of the Islamic Republic internally. For the Iranian population, the majority of whom explicitly reject the regime and who are only kept in check by a brutal apparatus of violence, the fall of Assad is an important symbol. Therefore, the regime in Tehran could now accelerate the nuclear breakout to ensure its survival.

With the end of the dictatorship in Syria, the possibility arises that the regime in Tehran could also be overthrown by the population. An end to terror and war in the Middle East is only conceivable if a free Iran replaces the anti-Semitic, misogynistic despotism of the Islamic Republic. This change must come from the population. Nevertheless, Germany and Europe should see this weakening of the regime as an opportunity and support the opposition in Iran by exerting maximum pressure on the regime.

For this reason, we demand from the German government:

• an end to the policy of regarding the representatives of the aggressive dictatorship in Tehran as the legitimate representatives of the Iranian people or as guarantors of stability
• and the reduction of diplomatic relations with Tehran to a minimum. This also includes the closure of the Iranian Embassy in its current form
• the sanctioning of the network of Iranian banks and companies and the reduction of economic relations to a minimum
• the imposition of a national ban on the terrorist organization IRGC, along the lines of the ban on Hezbollah
• a more intensive and clearly publicly stated commitment to the listing of the IRGC as a terrorist organization at the EU level
• the introduction of snapback sanctions against the Iranian nuclear program, which Germany could also decide on unilaterally if necessary.

[1] The figures are based on estimates. The German Foreign Office also uses them. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) speaks of 617,910 dead, of whom 507,567 have been identified by name. Of these, 164,223 are civilians and 343,344 are non-civilians. In addition, there are 55,000 deaths as a result of torture in prisons. The organization estimates that a further 54,000 deaths have been added that could not be documented. 2.1 million were wounded in the war, mainly by bombing, and 13 million people have fled.