Arzamanova Tatyana Vladimirovna – Leading Editor, INION RAS
The article is devoted to the analysis of German foreign policy on the Iranian and Israeli dimensions, the demands for a fundamental revision of which in the changed geostrategic context are increasingly conferred in German socio-political discourse. On the Iranian vector of German foreign policy today, the focus is on issues related to the «containment» of Iran and countering its regional policy, monitoring its nuclear program, promoting de-escalation of tensions between Tel Aviv and Tehran, and respecting of human rights in Iran. In general, Berlin supports the US course of increasing pressure on the Iranian leadership and the international isolation of Tehran, while being interested in the success of negotiations between Tehran and Washington on the «nuclear deal». The trend towards the formation of new interpretations, which manifested itself in 2024–2025 in Germany’s relations with Israel, is associated with a certain dualism of German foreign policy on this vector. Berlin exports weapons to Israel while simultaneously supplying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The aggravation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict became the catalyst for the beginning of the process of erosion of the public consensus in Germany regarding the Israeli state. Against the backdrop of Germany's claims to the role of a global player, a demand has arisen in German socio-political discourse to reconsider the patterns of interaction between Germany and Israel, which in the past cemented the «aggressor-victim-redemption» link, but at the same time hindered the development of «interstate friendship» and made it difficult to overcome the value gap in bilateral relations that arose due to the fact that Israel is primarily focused on security issues, while Germany is focused on the principles of multilateralism, human rights and international law. The results of the study, conducted using comparative and content analysis methods, allow us to conclude that Germany is a «second-tier» external player in the Middle East region. However, since the moment of the «change of eras» Berlin, on the one hand, announced its claims to a «partnership in leadership» with the United States, and on the other hand, to some extent lost the trust of regional players due to its emphatically pro-Israeli position, Germany will need some time to rethink its relations with its Middle Eastern partners.
Germany, Iran, Israel, USA, Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Gaza Strip, «nuclear deal», «change of eras» (Zeitenwende), D. Trump.
Download text