More than 1,700 German companies are active in Iran. These include household names like Linde, ThyssenKrupp and BASF. Germany’s technology and telecommunications giant Siemens has made the biggest financial commitment. As part of a continuing $450 million deal started in 2006, Siemens is committed to sell Iran 150 locomotive engines over six years and to transfer the technical know-how for manufacturing them in Iran within 10 years.

Clearly, Germany by itself has enough economic leverage with Iran to persuade its leaders to halt uranium enrichment, as demanded by the U.N. And yet there is no sign of a will to use it. In fact, German-Iranian business ties are flourishing more than ever. Germany is still Iran’s most important trading partner in the West. After a two-year decline, German exports to Iran grew in the first quarter of 2008 by 13.6%, as compared to the same period in 2007. The German control office for foreign trade (BAFA) approved 1,926 business deals from January through July 2008, an astonishing increase of 63% over the same period last year.
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