Germany is the weak link in sanctions against Iran. This should not surprise anyone. There has long been a strange affinity in Berlin for the Islamic Republic, a relationship born more of greed by Germany’s political and business elites than by any ideological commonality.

Germany pioneered the “critical dialogue” in 1992 in order to tie Iranian respect for human rights to increased trade. The Islamic Republic soon put Germany to the test, murdering four Iranian Kurdish dissidents in the heart of Berlin. Rather than suspend ties, Bernd Schmidbauer, Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s top intelligence adviser, continued to engage Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian, the man who ordered the hit, after the assassination.