While the reacts to reports that had enriched enough uranium for a nuclear weapon with concern and calls for tighter sanctions, in it is business as usual.

Today, many of the leading lights of German-Iranian trade will be meeting at a conference in Hamburg in order to discuss how further to promote the “success” of German business with . The title of the conference is “Iran Sanctions: Practical Consequence for German Firms.” The organizer is the Hamburg-based German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, which was founded in 1936 and resumed its activities in 1952 with largely the same personnel as before. The Chamber of Commerce continues to work with the Iranian Saderat Bank: a bank that was blacklisted by the in September 2006 on account of its relations with terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.… [T]he Chamber of Commerce wants to “support” German firms “developing markets in ”: “We would be delighted if we could thus contribute to the success of your business with .”…

Norbert Eisenmenger… will be speaking on the “current economic situation.” He is the managing director of the European-Iranian Commerce Bank (EIH). As its latest report notes, the bank closed out 2007 “with record earnings yet again…. Eisenmenger is also one of the two managing directors of the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce. The topic “Financing Iranian business deals” will be covered by Sabine Hummerich… the representative of Bank Melli . Bank Melli is fully-owned by the Iranian regime. The 2007-2008 report of Bank Melli’s German subsidiary in Hamburg notes that “On balance, yields developed in a clearly positive direction and led to a record results.”… In June 2008, the European Union placed sanctions on Bank Melli.

 Ms. Sissi Gerstenkorn will be representing the insurance company Euler Hermes and speaking about export credit guarantees for via the German government’s “Hermes” program.… Dr. Thomas Scheuermann will be speaking on “Legal Aspects of Iran Business for German Enterprises.” Scheuermann is a member of the board of directors of the “German-Iranian Lawyers Association” [Deutsch-Iranische Juristen Vereinigung] and vice-president of the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce. Michael Tockuss will close out the conference with a talk on “Practical Consequences for Business with .” Tockuss is the former managing director of the Tehran-based German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and he is presently the second managing director of the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce in Hamburg .

Despite all appeals from the international community—whether from Washington, London or Paris—German exporters to are moving full speed ahead. The next event of note will be hosted by the “