Frank Bösch

• 1978/79 fegte eine Revolution das Regime von Schah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi im Iran hinweg - eine islamische Revolution, an deren Ende ein Gottesstaat unter Führung der Geistlichkeit stand, mit Ayatollah Khomeini an der Spitze. Die Bundesregierung unter Kanzler Helmut Schmidt und Außenminister Hans-Dietrich Genscher befand sich in einer Zwickmühle: Einerseits war der Iran ein wichtiger Erdöllieferant und Handelspartner, andererseits verstörte die Gewalt gegen politische Gegner und Vertreter der westlichen Staatengemeinschaft, die in der Besetzung der amerikanischen Botschaft in Teheran gipfelte. Frank Bösch zeigt auf der Basis neuer Quellen, wie die Bundesregierung auf die islamische Revolution reagierte, zwischen interessengeleitetem Pragmatismus und außenpolitisch gebotener Bündnistreue zu den USA lavierte und so hinter den Kulissen als Vermittler zwischen Teheran und Washington fungieren konnte.
• Even contemporaries saw the Iranian Revolution of 1979 as an important caesura which increased fears of radical Islamic violence worldwide. As the Federal Republic had maintained very close relations to Iran during the time of the Shah, a severance of relations with the Islamic Republic in similar fashion as the USA was to be expected. On the contrary this article, based on archival sources, shows that West German politicians and businesses engaged with the new clerical leadership and in so doing were relatively unaffected by the public human rights discourse despite mass executions. The previous economic and cultural connections to Iran facilitated the setting up of political bridges and resulted in the role of the Federal Republic as a pragmatic intermediary, also towards the USA. As hitherto classified files reveal in detail, the Germans were also able to play a key role during the secret negotiations regarding the hostage crisis in the American embassy in Tehran. Even though the protests against human rights violations increasedEven contemporaries saw the Iranian Revolution of 1979 as an important caesura which increased fears of radical Islamic violence worldwide. As the Federal Republic had maintained very close relations to Iran during the time of the Shah, a severance of relations with the Islamic Republic in similar fashion as the USA was to be expected. On the contrary this article, based on archival sources, shows that West German politicians and businesses engaged with the new clerical leadership and in so doing were relatively unaffected by the public human rights discourse despite mass executions. The previous economic and cultural connections to Iran facilitated the setting up of political bridges and resulted in the role of the Federal Republic as a pragmatic intermediary, also towards the USA. As hitherto classified files reveal in detail, the Germans were also able to play a key role during the secret negotiations regarding the hostage crisis in the American embassy in Tehran. Even though the protests against human rights violations increased in the autumn of 1981, politicians and businessmen, in principal, continued with these pragmatically maintained relations.…