Iran conflict: does Trump get the receipt for blatant mistakes? Senate votes on disempowerment

In Iran, the political situation worsened after the plane was shot down. There were attacks on military camps in Iraq. The Iraqi people protested.

• War threatens in Iran: The US military killed Iran's general Soleimani , Iran responded with rocket attacks
• Thousands of government critics protested in Iran after the Iranian military shot down a passenger plane
• Missile strikes occurred again in military camps in Iraq .
• A resolution could take away Donald Trump 's decision-making powers.

Update of February 12, 2020: Congress is paving the way for a resolution that would severely restrict US President Donald Trump's military powers in the Iran conflict . The Senate will vote on it tomorrow, AFP reports.

It is a reaction to the ordered killing of the Iranian general Kassem Soleimani . In contrast to the vote in the impeachment procedure against Trump, he cannot, however, weigh himself in safety thanks to the Republican majority in the Senate.

The request, received by Democratic Senator Tom Kaine, is also well received by some Republicans. Ultimately, Trump's decision to launch the drone attack almost escalated the situation in Iran. If the text is approved, Donald Trump may no longer order military operations without the prior consent of Congress.

Of course, the US president himself calls for rejection. It is very important for the security of the United States to vote against the motion, Trump wrote on Twitter. "We are doing well in Iran and it is not time to show weakness," he continues. In addition, the overwhelming majority of Americans would support the attack on "Terrorist Soleimani" (Trump quote).

It is very important for our Country's SECURITY that the United States Senate not vote for the Iran War Powers Resolution. We are doing very well with Iran and this is not the time to show weakness. Americans overwhelmingly support our attack on terrorist Soleimani ....

Donald Trump's opinion, that in any case such a curtailment of power would of course be a bitter defeat for the President.

Iran conflict: Two rockets hit near the US embassy in Baghdad

January 21, 2020, 2:18 p.m. update: An Iranian MP has offered a $ 3 million reward for the murder of U.S. President Donald Trump in retaliation for the death of Iranian general Kassem Soleimani ,

Iran conflict: Two rockets hit near the US embassy in Baghdad

10:39 pm: Two rockets are said to have struck near the US embassy in Baghdad. Focus Online reports , citing security circles. So far, there have been no reports of fatalities or injuries. The United States has previously blamed pro-Iranian militias for similar attacks within the secure green zone in the Iraqi capital. However, the militias never acknowledged the attacks.

Now there has been a breakdown in the Federal President's Office: a congratulatory letter with critical text was accidentally sent to Iran.

Protests in Iraq: Protesters put pressure on government

Update of January 20, 2020, 12:14 p.m .: Thousands of demonstrators in Iraq have gathered again for nationwide protests against the government . Hundreds of government opponents tried to set up roadblocks in the capital Baghdad on Monday morning. The army said it had arrested nine people and stopped the protests. The protesters are annoyed by the sluggish reforms and had given the government an ultimatum by Monday to meet their demands.

Protests in Iraq: Opponents of the government set fire to car tires

Opponents of the government set fire to car tires in several cities on Sunday to block roads and bridges. AFP reporters reported violent clashes with security forces in central Tajaran Square in Baghdad , which used live ammunition and tear gas against the demonstrators. Rescuers injured 20 people in the night-long clashes. Some of them suffered gunshot wounds.

Iraq has been rocked by an unprecedented wave of protests since October, involving hundreds of thousands of people. Around 460 people have been killed since then. The protesters accuse the government and the entire Iraqi elite of corruption and inaction. The resignation of Prime Minister Abdel Adel Mahdi , who is still in office, could not dampen the resentment. The demonstrators are demanding a new electoral law and elections, a new government and the punishment of corrupt officials.

Nuclear dispute: Iran warns Europe - Maas accuses Trump of failure

Update of January 19, 2020: Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) has accused US President Donald Trump of failing in the Iran conflict. With a view to Iran's aggressive behavior, Maas the picture on Sunday said: “Even threatening gestures and military actions have not changed that. It should not be pretended that the situation would automatically improve with an outside regime change in Tehran. That had already gone wrong elsewhere, for example in Iraq.

Maas campaigned for the European approach to the crisis: "The EU is banking on diplomacy instead of escalation." He defended the nuclear agreement: "Without the agreement , Iran would probably already have a nuclear bomb . We absolutely have to prevent this from happening. ”

Meanwhile , Iranian President Ali Larijani urged Europeans to remain "fair" in the nuclear dispute - while warning against countermeasures . "If the EU behaves disproportionately in the nuclear dispute, we will respond proportionately," said Larijani on Sunday, according to the state news agency IRNA. This should not be a threat, but should be a clear announcement. The President of Parliament reacted to the initiation of mediation to save the nuclear agreement by Germany, France and Great Britain.

Ali Larijani, President of the Iranian Parliament, speaks during a parliamentary session.

© dpa / -

The problem in the nuclear dispute is not Iran, but the USA with its withdrawal from the nuclear agreement and the imposition of sanctions on Iran. "It would therefore be better for the EU to remain fair and not to be humiliated by the United States," says Larijani. One of the Iranian reactions, he says, could be a "new decision" related to Iran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) . In that case, the UN agency could not continue its controls on Iran's nuclear facilities. "This plan has already been prepared in parliament," said Larijani.

Iran conflict: Trump and Khamenei with an exchange of blows - Iranians accuse Merkel of "cowardice"

Update of January 18, 2020 : The Iran conflict is also carried on Twitter. Donald Trump has now issued a sharp warning to the leadership in Tehran. Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should be "very careful with his words," tweeted the US President. Khamenei said "bad things" about the United States and Europe in his Friday prayer. Meanwhile, the Iranian economy is falling and the country's population is suffering, Trump continued.

The so-called “Supreme Leader” of Iran, who has not been so Supreme lately, had some nasty things to say about the United States and Europe. Their economy is crashing, and their people are suffering. He should be very careful with his words!

In his Friday prayer, Khamenei had accused the three European signatories to the international nuclear agreement - Germany, France and Great Britain - of "cowardice". The three states had activated the "dispute settlement mechanism" on Tuesday in view of Iran's continued violations of the nuclear agreement. It could lead to new UN sanctions against Tehran. Khamenei accused them of “overshadowing” the targeted killing of the Iranian general Soleimani . They are "lackeys of the USA".

Iran conflict: Federal government confirms a threat from the United States

Update of January 17, 2020, 7.45 p.m .: The federal government has confirmed that the United States has threatened the EU with tariffs on cars in the dispute over the nuclear deal with Iran . In a secret meeting of the Federal Foreign Affairs Committee, a high-ranking diplomat from the Federal Foreign Office said, according to participants on Friday, that the United States had linked the two issues at a high level of civil service on January 8.

NATO summit

© dpa / Michael Kappeler

However, the threat had been rejected by the three European countries participating in the nuclear agreement - Germany , France and Great Britain. At first the mirror reported about it in Germany. The Washington Post had previously reported that the United States had threatened to impose punitive tariffs on EU cars of 25 percent in order to urge Europeans to initiate arbitration proceedings over the nuclear deal.

Update from January 17, 2020, 7.45 p.m .: Lufthansa is canceling all flights to Tehran and Iran for the time being. "Due to the still unclear security situation for the airspace around the airport in

As a precaution, the Lufthansa Group airlines are suspending flights from / to Tehran until and including March 28, 2020 for Tehran and for Iranian airspace, ”said the Dax group in Frankfurt on Friday evening. The same applies to flights via Iran .

After the crash of the Ukrainian Boeing aircraft, Lufthansa initially canceled a flight to this destination. The next Lufthansa aircraft turned around after indications that the jet of Ukraine International Airlines might have been shot down. Lufthansa then canceled all flights to the destination by January 20. Now this period has been extended.

The responsible department, together with national and international authorities, continues to check the security situation for arrivals and departures for Tehran Airport and the entire Iranian airspace, the company said. As soon as there is more detailed information, further flights to Iran will be decided.

Iran Conflict: Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei Summons Iran's Will to Unity

Update of January 17, 2020, 12:32 pm: The recent protests in Iran, according to the top Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have no impact on the country's political course. "The Iranian people love and want to resist the world powers and not surrender, even 41 years after the revolution," Khamenei said at the Friday prayer in Tehran. Iran's top leader had led traditional Friday prayers for the first time in eight years.

Millions of people went to the funeral service for the killed Al-Kuds commander Ghassem Soleimani , Khamenei said. Hundreds of people who insulted him with their slogans were deceived by enemy media abroad. They would not be able to change the will of the people, according to the Ayatollah, who according to the constitution has the final say in all strategic matters.

After the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane by the Iranian military, there were protests in Tehran and other cities against the political course in the country - and also against the Iranian leadership.

According to media reports, tens of thousands attended Friday prayers and confirmed Khamenei's statements with slogans such as “Death to the United States” and “No compromise, no surrender, only fight against the United States”. The Friday prayer was broadcast live on several channels of state television.

Iran conflict: US soldiers injured - Trump announced false news

Update of January 17, 2020, 9:34 am: At least eleven US soldiers were injured in last week's Iranian missile attacks on bases used by foreign troops in Iraq. At the Al-Asad Air Force Base, a number of soldiers had symptoms of concussion caused by the explosions, the U.S. Central Command said Thursday. The US Army had previously said that no one had been injured by the attacks.

US President Donald Trump also said last Thursday that no US citizens were harmed in the attacks. The US Central Command now announced that eleven wounded soldiers had been flown out of the Al-Asad base as a precautionary measure in the days after the attacks. Eight of them were brought to the US military hospital in Landstuhl in Rhineland-Palatinate, three to the Arifdschan military camp in Kuwait. There were no deaths in the attacks.

Iran conflict: Trump is said to have threatened Merkel's Germany with bitter sanctions - Iran ridicules

Update of January 16, 2020, 1.30 p.m .: Iran has accused the Europeans of having given up in the nuclear dispute for fear of the United States. "The E3 ( Germany, France and Great Britain ) sacrificed the remains of the Vienna nuclear deal to avoid Trump's new tariffs," Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Sarif tweeted on Thursday. "It won't work, my friends. You only increase his appetite, ”he wrote. "If you want to sell your integrity, just keep going. But then DO NOT make such high moral / legal demands. "

Sarif responded to the initiation of mediation to save the nuclear agreement by Germany, France and Great Britain. According to media reports, this is due to fear of 25 percent US punitive tariffs on cars from the EU. The US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell , rejected this via Twitter as "fake news".

Fake news. Who is @ John_Hudson's editor? How is he allowed to make up anonymous sources who never say who made the supposed threat ?! https://t.co/01AbNKfwCr

Sarif had previously described the European move as a "strategic mistake".

Iran conflict: Ruhani wants to preserve nuclear deal

Update of January 16, 11.30 a.m .: Iranian President Hassan Ruhani is ruling out a complete withdrawal from the nuclear agreement until further notice. In his view, such a move would bring Iran back to the UN Security Council as a case and would result in international sanctions. "Then we would have the problems all over again," said the cleric at a meeting with directors of the Iranian central bank in Tehran on Thursday.

According to Ruhani, the Iranian nuclear program is now more advanced than it was before the 2015 Vienna nuclear agreement . The country has more capacity to enrich uranium . He did not give any further details , but the Iranian nuclear organization will soon announce technical details .

Iran conflict: USA is said to have threatened Germany, France and Great Britain

Update of January 16, 7.35 a.m .: The US is said to have threatened Germany, France and Great Britain with punitive tariffs on cars in the dispute over the nuclear deal with Iran. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Washington was trying to push Europeans to activate the agreement's dispute settlement mechanism. The US newspaper wrote citing punitive tariffs of 25 percent on car imports, citing European representatives.

Germany, France and the UK decided on Tuesday to trigger the dispute settlement mechanism, which can ultimately lead to the reintroduction of UN sanctions against Iran. US officials made the threat a week earlier, the Washington Post said. A European source therefore spoke of " blackmail ".

According to the newspaper, however, it is unclear whether it was the US threat that caused the Europeans to trigger the mechanism. Berlin, Washington and Paris had announced the move weeks ago. The US threat is said to have been counterproductive : Europeans have almost refrained from initiating the dispute settlement mechanism, fearing that if the US threat becomes known, they will be seen as Washington's henchmen.

Iran conflict: US military resumes joint operations - turnaround in Iraq?

Update of January 16, 6:50 a.m .: Two weeks after the killing of Iranian General Soleimani in Baghdad, the US has resumed its joint military operations with the government forces there, according to a newspaper report in Iraq. The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing U.S. military officials, that the continuation of these operations is in line with the Pentagon's desire to maintain pressure on the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia.

Joint operations with the Iraqi forces had been suspended in a US drone attack two days after Soleimani was killed. The attack had dramatically escalated tensions between the United States and Iran, but since then the conflict between the two countries has eased somewhat.

After the killing of Soleimani and an Iraqi militia chief in the drone attack, the Iraqi parliament, in turn, demanded that all US troops and other foreign armed forces be withdrawn from the country. So far it is unclear whether the government in Baghdad will implement this decision. It was also uncertain, according to the New York Times, whether the current continuation of joint operations by Iraqi and US troops was approved by anyone in the Iraqi government.

Iran: Supreme Minister leads Friday prayer after plane launch and riots

Update of January 15, 9:00 pm: Given the protests in Iran , President Hassan Ruhani has called for a fundamental change in the politics of his country. "People want to be treated with sincerity, decency and trust," Ruhani said on Wednesday in a live television broadcast.

He urged the Iranians to " national unity ." " The people are our masters and we are their servants, " he said in his television address. "The servant must address the master with modesty, accuracy, and honesty ." The parliamentary elections in February could be a first step towards "national reconciliation," said the president. People wanted diversity .

Ruhani therefore asked the electoral authority to admit all candidates . "Allow all parties and groups, there is certainly nothing to lose." The country could not only be governed by a political wing, since the country belongs to all people. The unconditional admission of all candidates would be a drastic change compared to previous elections in Iran.

Ruhani indirectly admitted that the plane disaster a week ago and the way political leaders dealt with it led to a crisis of confidence among the population. If there was a deliberate delay in announcing the cause of the crash , the armed forces would have to apologize. On Tuesday, Tehran also said there had been first arrests by those responsible for the aircraft launch. No details were given. Most of the victims were Iranians or Iranian citizens of other countries.

Since the real cause of the crash became known, there have been furious protests by the population against the leadership of the country . On the other hand, the security forces took massive action, according to Amnesty International. Across the country, peaceful demonstrators have been injured by illegal violence , the human rights organization said on Wednesday. The security forces used, among other things, shot pellets, tear gas and rubber bullets. According to Iranian judicial information, around 30 people have been arrested so far.

Amidst the tense situation, Ayatollah Khamenei now wants to lead the central prayer in Tehran on Friday. The spiritual leader of Iran is officially the Imam of Tehran, but usually other clergy take charge of Friday prayers. Most recently, on February 3, 2012, the spiritual leader conducted Friday prayers on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

Iran: President Ruhani warns Germany, France and Great Britain

Update of January 15, 1:35 pm: Iranian President Hassan Ruhani has warned of "wrong steps" in the dispute over the Vienna nuclear deal. He reacted on Wednesday to the actions of Germany, France and Great Britain, which have initiated arbitration to save the deal. "If you take the wrong step, it would only harm you ... you'd better take the right path," Ruhani said at a cabinet meeting.

Not the activation of the dispute settlement mechanism, but the contractual implementation of the agreement is the right way. As soon as this happens, Iran will fully return to the nuclear deal, Ruhani said, according to the Presidential Office web portal.

After the US unilaterally canceled the deal in May 2018, Iran is also gradually moving away from contractual requirements. President Donald Trump wants the other contracting parties to bury the 2015 deal and, like America, impose harsh sanctions - that would be China and Russia in addition to the three EU countries . The nuclear deal is intended to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. In return, the lifting of economic sanctions had been promised.

The EU states had justified the activation of the arbitration mechanism with increasing breaches of contract on the part of the Islamic Republic . At the beginning of January, Iran had declared that it would no longer be committed to the deal unless it was implemented in accordance with the contract. The EU should stop repeating "absurd allegations". Iran does not want a nuclear weapons program for religious reasons alone.

Ruhani also described the proposal by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson , who had proposed a new "Trump deal" , as absurd. "I don't know now what the British Prime Minister was thinking," said Ruhani. The only thing that President Trump has done so far has been the withdrawal from the agreement, which was also signed by the United States.

There was a political quake in Russia immediately after the Putin speech. Prime Minister Medvedev resigned.

Iran: Trump berates dead general with terrifying words - shocking new launch details

Update 11.35: The Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Sarif has accused the United States of being partly responsible for the erroneous shooting down of a Ukrainian plane near Tehran . "Why did it happen? Because there was a crisis. People make mistakes - unforgivable mistakes - but it happened in times of crisis, ”said Sarif at a conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The Iranian chief diplomat accused the US of creating chaos in the region with ignorance and arrogance. The US is only concerned with its own interests in the Middle East and its own perspective. Washington believed that after the general was killed, the people would dance in the streets. Instead, they would have mourned him. Sarif said only US President Donald Trump, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the terrorist militia IS were happy to see the general die. Soleimani campaigned against IS.

Iran: Trump berates dead general with terrifying words - shocking new launch details

Update 8.33 a.m .: The Ukrainian plane, which killed 176 people in its crash, was even hit by two Iranian missiles . The New York Times reports, relying on "verified video material". The video recordings are intended to show how two rockets hit the aircraft at intervals of 23 seconds. The projectiles were fired from an Iranian military base . The video is said to have been posted on YouTube by an Iranian user on Tuesday night.

Iran conflict: Donald Trump insults Iranian general - and becomes really vulgar

Update of January 15: Rough words under the belt: US President Donald Trump has insulted Iranian General Soleimani as "son of a bitch" . The US military had deliberately killed the military strategist with an airstrike, and the Iran conflict has been boiling up ever since. Trump said in a campaign campaign in front of supporters that many people had lost limbs as a result of the acts of violence caused by Soleimani. You would now have "no legs and no arms because of this son of a bitch," said the US President.

Iran conflict: renewed rocket attack on military camps in Iraq

Update 10.15pm: While missiles attacked a military camp in Iraq again on Tuesday evening, Germany, France and Great Britain are trying to save the nuclear agreement from which Iran is currently withdrawing. Despite warnings from the Iranian government regarding the nuclear deal, the western states have now initiated arbitration to save the deal.

Iran-US conflict: Iran should never develop nuclear weapons, says Maas

The increasing breaches of contract on the part of the Islamic Republic can no longer be left unanswered, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) said on Tuesday on the grounds. The central goal remains "that Iran never develops nuclear weapons".

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Sarif described the European decision as a "strategic mistake". Europeans should rather meet their obligations under the Vienna Nuclear Agreement than take punitive actions, Sarif said at a meeting in Neu-Dehli with the State Secretary at the Foreign Office, Niels Annen, in Iran, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

Iran-US conflict: renewed rocket attack on military camps in Iraq

Update at 8:56 p.m .: A military camp in Iraq , which also contains US forces , has been attacked again with rockets . The Iraqi military said Tuesday night that several Katyusha-type missiles had been fired at the Taj i camp , around 30 kilometers north of the capital, Baghdad . However, there were no victims .

Update at 7:19 p.m .: After the escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran , the Bundestag debates on Wednesday about the situation in the Middle East. More than an hour is scheduled for the debate by Members at around 3 p.m. in the afternoon. Later, there will also be talk of an application by the AfD parliamentary group that the Bundestag should revoke its approval of the mandate for the deployment of the Bundeswehr in Iraq .

Iran-USA conflict: Bundestag discusses deployment of Bundeswehr in Iraq

To date, the Bundeswehr has stationed soldiers in northern Iraq as a contribution to the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia , who have trained Kurdish forces there. This is currently suspended . German soldiers and units from other nations were withdrawn from central Iraq at the beginning of January after the United States specifically targeted the top Iranian general, Ghassem Soleimani , in an airstrike in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad .

At the start of the first session of the Bundestag this year, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) will answer questions in the government survey.

Iran-US conflict: Iran threatens Europe with consequences

Update 4:03 pm: After the start of the dispute settlement process in the nuclear conflict with Iran , Tehran has threatened Europe with “consequences”. If Europeans try to "abuse the arbitration mechanism provided for in the international nuclear agreement, they must be ready for the consequences," the Iranian foreign ministry said in Tehran on Tuesday.

Germany, France and the UK had previously activated the dispute settlement mechanism in the face of Iran's repeated violations of the nuclear deal . This increases the pressure on Iran, since if it failed, UN sanctions against the country could be reintroduced.

Iran-US conflict: Iran announced "final phase" of withdrawal from nuclear deal

The 2015 agreement is to prevent Iran from building an atomic bomb. After the USA's unilateral exit in May 2018, Iran also gradually withdrew from the agreement. Following the killing of Iran's influential General Kassem Soleimani by a US drone attack in Iraq, Tehran announced on January 5 the "fifth and final phase" of the withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

Germany, France and Great Britain now want to use the dispute settlement mechanism to try to save the agreement with Iran through diplomatic efforts. In the past few months, they had unsuccessfully asked Tehran to return to the commitments of the nuclear treaty.

Iran-United States Conflict: Former US Secretary of State Attacks Trump - "Don't Let a Liar ..."

Update 1:23 pm: The Iranian judiciary demands the expulsion of the British ambassador after he has attended a rally. "A British ambassador takes part in an illegal rally, takes pictures and videos ... this is in no way acceptable to us," Justice Spokesman Gholam-Hussein Ismaili said on Tuesday, according to the Isna news agency. Ambassador Rob Macaire had even been appointed at short notice.

According to the Iranian judiciary, Macaire should be declared an undesirable person and expelled, the spokesman said. According to Ismaili, however, the foreign ministry is responsible - not the judiciary.

Macaire was briefly arrested on Saturday evening after claiming to have attended a mourning rally in Tehran for the victims of the crash of the downed Ukrainian passenger plane, including British. However, he said he left the event after five minutes when slogans were called. He emphasized that he did not take part in a demonstration.

Now Donald Trump is causing trouble on Twitter once again: he shared a fake photo and thus draws the anger of many Muslims.

Iran-United States Conflict: Former U.S. Secretary of State Attacks Trump - "Don't Let a Liar ..."

U pdate 13:03: The Research Services of the Bundestag have considerable doubt that the targeted killing of the Iranian General Ghassem Soleimani by the US military with international law must be agreed. "According to the US administration's submissions, it is not clear why the killing of Soleimani was absolutely necessary in Iraq in order to ward off an acute danger to the lives of Americans ultima ratio," said a report by MPs the left was commissioned and is available to the German Press Agency.

The deadly drone attack on Soleimani "obviously does not meet the criteria of a" final rescue shot "" and therefore appears to be a violation of the right to life laid down in the United Nations Civil Pact.

Iran conflict: German experts see international law violated

The Bundestag scientists also question the legitimacy of the Iranian reaction, which Tehran also founded on self-defense. Military bases in Iraq, where US soldiers are stationed, were attacked with rockets on January 8.

The right of self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter does not apply in this case, since the drone attack had already been completed at the time of the counter-attack, the report said. “Iran is not claiming any imminent US threat to be countered by the missile fire. There is no reliable evidence that the USA had planned to eliminate other members of the Iranian leadership circle. "

Iran-United States Conflict: Former U.S. Secretary of State Attacks Trump - "Don't Let a Liar ..."

Meanwhile, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appeals to the European countries. You should stick to the international nuclear deal with Iran - even against US President Donald Trump's opposition. "It is important that Europe takes the lead on this issue," Kerry told the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND / Tuesday editions). The European states should "not give in" to the pressure from Washington.

The nuclear deal is "the strongest, most transparent and best-reviewed nuclear contract" in the world. "We cannot allow a liar to destroy it," said Kerry, referring to Trump, who he blamed for the escalation in the Gulf region. With his unilateral exit from the international nuclear agreement in May 2018, Trump set in motion a highly dangerous development.

In the second term of President Barack Obama, Kerry was the US Secretary of State and thus a US negotiator of the nuclear deal with Iran, China, Russia, France and Germany. "Most countries want to keep the agreement," Kerry told the RND newspapers. Europe should not be intimidated by threats of sanctions. "If Donald Trump punished our most important allies, there would be a massive uprising in American politics very quickly."

Iran conflict: Violations of the nuclear agreement - now Germany is increasing the pressure

In view of Iran's violations of the international nuclear agreement , Germany, France and Great Britain are increasing the pressure on Tehran: They activated the dispute settlement mechanism contained in the treaty on Tuesday, as the foreign ministers of the three countries said in a joint statement distributed by the Federal Foreign Office. The aim is to save the nuclear agreement with Iran "through constructive diplomatic dialogue".

"We could no longer leave the increasing Iranian violations of the nuclear agreement unanswered," said Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD). Therefore, the dispute settlement mechanism was triggered "after intensive consultations" with France and Great Britain. "Our goal is clear: we want to preserve the agreement and come to a diplomatic solution within the agreement," emphasized Maas.

The dispute settlement mechanism provides for a multi-stage procedure with numerous deadlines. It may take several months. Without an agreement with Iran , UN sanctions against Iran could ultimately be reintroduced.

Germany , France and Great Britain do not want this and therefore hope to be able to persuade Iran to comply with the obligations under the nuclear agreement. The three countries would not join in a move “that aims to put maximum pressure on Iran,” said the Secretary of State's statement, alluding to US President Donald Trump's policy on Iran.

The 2015 agreement is to prevent Iran from building an atomic bomb. After the USA's unilateral exit in May 2018, Iran also gradually withdrew from the agreement.

After the influential Iranian general Kassem Soleimani was killed in a US drone attack in Iraq, Tehran announced on January 5 the "fifth and final phase" of the withdrawal from the nuclear deal. Germany, the UK and France as EU partners to the agreement have since been under pressure to respond to Tehran's move.

Iran shoots down plane: government sets up special court - now everything should go very quickly

Update 10:31: In Iran , "some individuals" should be held responsible for the shooting down of the Ukrainian passenger plane. AbcNews reports . After Iran had given itself three long days after the plane crashed to admit that the plane was probably accidentally shot down, things are now supposed to go very quickly. The Iranian head of state Hassan Ruhani has set up a judge's council and instructed to clear up the shooting.

This "judges council" should form a special court , Ruhani said in a television speech in Iran, according to abcNews . A judge and a dozen experts should look into the matter. "This is not a normal case. The whole world will watch this dish, ”said Ruhani. The spokesman for the judge's council, Gholamhossein Esmaili, was quoted by the Iranian government as follows: "Intensive investigations were carried out and some individuals were arrested". However, Iran did not name how many people nor who was arrested.

176 people died in the crash. In the past few days, hundreds of people have taken to the streets in the capital, Tehran , demanding the resignation of religious leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The security forces reacted with tear gas, the demonstrators held out white roses to them.

Iran / Aircraft launch: Alliance of states puts pressure - demo against mullahs in Tehran

Update January 14, 7:00: After the late Iranian commitment to missile launch of the Ukrainian airliner s insist foreign governments on a transparent investigation. "We know what happened. What we don't know is why it happened," TSB chief Kathy Fox said on Monday. Fox mentioned as open questions whether the rocket fire was intentional or not and why the airspace had been kept open in the face of the dramatically escalating conflict between Iran and the United States .

A first coordination meeting of the states from which people were killed in the crash is scheduled to take place in London on Thursday. The foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Great Britain, Canada, Sweden and Ukraine will take part , as the Canadian chief diplomat Francois-Philippe Champagne said. The meeting is intended to maintain pressure on Iran so that the country can give foreign investigators full access to the evidence and conduct the investigation transparently, Champagne wrote on Twitter.

Protests in Tehran

© AFP / -

In Iran , meanwhile, according to images distributed in online networks, the protests that followed the admission of the missile launch apparently continued. The photos apparently showed demonstrations at Sharif University in Tehran, in the city of Sanandaj in the Kurdish region and in Isfahan. Videos showed and heard demonstrators shouting slogans against the government and also against the Shia clergy.

Iran: Donald Trump attacks Democrats with polemic photo montage

Update 8:03 p.m .: In the dispute over the conflict with Iran, US President Donald Trump has sharply attacked and disparaged the opposition Democrats. Trump shared a photo montage on Twitter that shows top democrats Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer wearing Muslim headgear - portraying them as Iranian henchmen. Pelosi, the chairwoman of the House of Representatives, wears a hijab in it, Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate, in a turban.

The corrupted Dems trying their best to come to the Ayatollah's rescue. # NancyPelosiFakeNews pic.twitter.com/a0ksPHeXCy

Iran conflict: Trump over the killing of Soleimani: "should have been done 20 years ago"

In several tweets, Trump also accused the Democrats of wanting to turn Iranian general Kassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone attack, into a “wonderful guy”: “Everything I do, whether it's the economy, the military or anything else, is done by the radicals left-wing nonprofit Democrats despised. ”With Soleimani's killing, he did“ what should have been done for 20 years. ”

Iran: Donald Trump insults Democrats with polemic photo montage

© AFP / SAUL LOEB

The Democrats have sharply criticized Trump for Soleimani's targeted killing in Iraq. The opposition party accuses the president of risking a dramatic escalation of the conflict with Tehran. They also question the US government's justification for the deadly drone attack.

Democrats are holding the final TV debate before the Iowa primaries on Tuesday (local time). Topic among others: The Iran conflict.

Iran: Trump threatens mullahs with drastic words - expert warns of escalation

Update 3:40 pm: The police in Tehran received an order to hold back before the recent anti-government demonstrations. Police protester Hossein Rahimi said on Monday evening that the police had exercised "patience and tolerance" in the protests against the shooting down of the Ukrainian passenger plane. The police "did not shoot at all" because they received an "order to hold back".

After the killing of Soleimani and the shooting down of an airplane, the people in Tehran protests.

© dpa / Ebrahim Norooz i

On Saturday, police used tear gas against several hundred demonstrators at Amir Kabir University in Tehran. At the rally, those responsible for the aircraft launch were asked to resign. All 176 inmates were killed in the launch on Wednesday shortly after Boeing took off in Tehran. No reliable information was available on the number of participants in the protests on Sunday.

Iran: Government rejects cover-up allegations after plane launch

Update of January 13, 2019, 1.30 p.m .: The Iranian government has rejected the allegations that it has covered up facts after the plane was shot down. "The government has been accused of covering up and lying, but it really wasn't," government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Monday.

The first press release, which referred to a technical error, was published immediately after the crash was confirmed, the spokesman said. Even President Hassan Ruhani received the relevant facts about the launch from the Security Council only two days after the incident , Rabiei said, regretting the death of the passengers and lost confidence in the credibility of the state and government.

Iran: Foreign Minister Heiko Maas calls on the Iranian government to moderate

He also referred to military tensions that day. After the killing of top Iranian general Ghassem Soleimani , US President Donald Trump had threatened to attack 52 targets in Iran in the event of Iranian retaliation. "Therefore, all the armed forces were on high alert and this was the cause of the tragic mistake and misfortune," said Rabiei.

During his visit to Jordan, Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stressed that Iran must also exercise restraint to defuse the conflict. "We agree. If Iran wants to de-escalate, it has to stop igniting in the neighborhood , and that also applies to Iraq, ”he said. Trump's mild reaction to Iran's retaliatory strikes has contributed to a de-escalation of the situation, says Middle East expert Udo Steinbach. He suspects that the US will continue to wait in connection with the Middle East conflict.

Iran conflict: The shooting down of a passenger plane calls thousands of Iranians onto the streets

First message from January 13, 2019: Tehran - After the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane , tensions in Iran * continue to increase. At large demonstrations *, up to 3000 people in Tehran protested against their government , according to the ILNA news agency . Reason: The Iranian military claims to be responsible for the crash. An oversight, as the Iranian government claims. The demonstrators criticize the fact that the Iranian leadership concealed the facts , which only admitted the shooting days later.

Iran: Trump threatens mullahs with drastic words

For weeks, escalation has been threatening in Iran *. In the course of the protests, the British ambassador has now been summoned because he is said to have participated in a rally critical of the government. The key between Trump and the government is also sharp * after Trump, who is about to be impeached, has announced his support to the demonstrators in Persian.

In another tweet, Trump threatens the mullahs: "Don't kill their demonstrators," Trump wrote in capital letters on Twitter on Sunday. "Thousands of you have already been killed or detained." Trump warned: "The world is watching. More importantly, the United States is watching. ”He later repeated the Twitter message in Persian. Already on Saturday, the president had given demonstrators in Iran Twitter support in English and Persian for US support.

To the leaders of Iran - DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!

Conflict in Iran: security expert Wolfgang Ischinger warns of too much support

Wolfgang Ischinger , head of the Munich Security Conference, has now issued a warning in the ZDF morning magazine * . "It is very important that the Iranian people feel that the world is watching and that they are encouraged ." But supporting the demonstrators is an extremely difficult diplomatic question , he said: "Too much support as Trump is trying to do now can also cause the conflict to escalate. ”A bit of reluctance is very important, said Ischinger.

He also warned against proposing a change of government . "You don't know who would come if the mullahs lose their power," he said. At the same time, he stressed the importance of the EU member states continuing to stick to the nuclear deal with Iran and continuing to speak with one voice on foreign policy. "The case of Iran shows just how successful this can be," he said.

Video: US-Iran conflict - the history

Iran conflict: Germany, France and Great Britain urge Iran

In a joint statement, Germany, France and the UK urged Iran to return to its obligations under the nuclear deal with the West. The Federal Government is also concerned about the future of the international anti-IS mission in Iraq. The conflict between the United States and the Iranian government * almost escalated after the Iranian general and popular hero Ghassem Soleimani * was killed in a US military operation. Iran then bombarded US military positions in neighboring Iraq.

The crises in Iran * have occurred since Donald Trump canceled the international nuclear deal with Iran *. Iran has been demonstratively breaking the provisions of the agreement for a few days now. Donald Trump: A weather tweet from the White House was amusing. Accordingly, it should snow in the US metropolis of Washington. The "Tagesschau" made a mistake during its reporting. Viewers see a manipulated video.

Two people died in a small plane crash on Thursday. The machine was completely burned out in the accident.

The US embassy was hit in a missile attack on the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Rockets have been hitting the city for weeks.

In a new disclosure book, former companions unpack Donald Trump, a "dangerously uninformed" and "self-centered" man.

Are US troops facing a possible terrorist attack in Germany? Army facilities on German soil were checked over the weekend.

* Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital editors network

Rubric list picture: © dpa / Ali Abdul Hassan