In 1952, diplomatic relations were established between the Federal Republic of Germany and Iran, and the Iranian legation was opened in Germany. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, relations between the two countries have been very strained in some areas. In particular, the German Government is particularly concerned by the human rights situation in Iran, as well as Iran’s nuclear programme and Iranian regional policy.

Germany championed the establishment of an independent fact-finding mission by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to investigate human rights violations during the suppression of the protests in Iran in the autumn of 2022 and supports the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Germany’s recommendations to Iran included the halting of executions, the ending of discrimination against women and ethnic and religious minorities, and the guaranteeing of freedom of opinion, expression, assembly and the press.

For a long time, economic relations between Germany and Iran were close. However, the volume of trade decreased significantly as a result of the sanctions against Iran. In 2017, German-Iranian trade amounted to 3.4 billion euro; by 2019 it had declined to 1.7 billion euro. In 2024, the volume of foreign trade amounted to approximately 1.5 billion euro. This decline resulted primarily from the United States’ withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) in 2018 and the sanctions unilaterally reimposed by the United States.

In August 2025, following Iran’s repeated violations of the JCPoA since 2019, Germany, France and the United Kingdom triggered the snapback mechanism under UN Resolution 2231. In accordance with the JCPoA, six previously suspended UN resolutions will re-enter into force 30 days after the snapback mechanism has been triggered, i.e. at the end of September 2025. The restoring of these resolutions would mean, for example, that all UN member states would be prohibited from supplying Iran with nuclear or missile-related products; in addition, the UN Security Council would reimpose an arms embargo on Iran.

Traditionally, there has been a lively exchange between Germany and Iran in the cultural and academic spheres. However, this is currently under great strain and in decline due to the changed political situation. Nevertheless, there is still considerable interest in bilateral cultural and academic exchange between the two countries’ civil societies.