German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel arrived in Iran with an economic delegation on Sunday, becoming the first high-ranking western politician to visit the country after it struck a nuclear deal with world powers.
By travelling to Tehran with a delegation of industry group representatives and company officials, Gabriel sends a strong signal that Germany wants to quickly rebuild economic and political ties with Iran after a 12-year standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Under an agreement struck on Tuesday, sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations will be lifted in exchange for Iran agreeing long-term curbs on a nuclear program that the West thought was intended to make a nuclear bomb. Tehran has always denied seeking nuclear arms.
“The agreement reached between the E3+3 and Iran in Vienna has laid the foundations for a normalization of economic relations with Iran,” Gabriel said before setting off. E3+3 refers to the group of countries that negotiated with Iran.
“The precondition for this is that the steps foreseen in the agreement are now implemented,” said Gabriel, who is also Germany’s vice chancellor.
Germany’s DIHK chambers of trade and commerce has forecast that German exports could double to about 5 billion euros within just two years and companies like Volkswagen and Siemens as well as thousands of smaller family-owned firms are eager to take back their dominant role in shipments to Iran.

German minister travels to Iran after nuclear deal to re-establish ties

Sigmar Gabriel, Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, SPD, and Germany's Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister attends a news conference following a board meeting at the headquarters in Berlin, Monday, July 6, 2015. (AP)
Reuters, Tehran
Sunday 19 July 2015
Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:45 - GMT 06:45
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