Monday, September 7th 2015

Austrian President Fischer: In the Footsteps of Kurt Waldheim in Iran

Handshake with Holocaust denier - Financing of terror - STOP THE BOMB condemns the business trip of Austrian President, Ministers & companies

The non-partisan coalition STOP THE BOMB reiterates its harsh criticism against the Iran visit of Austria’s President Heinz Fischer, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner and the head of Austria’s Economic Chamber (WKO) Christoph Leitl.

"In 1991 it was Kurt Waldheim, Austria’s President with Nazi past, who was the first Western head of state who travelled to Iran after the Islamic Revolution. Today, of all people, it is Heinz Fischer, who conceives himself as an fierce anti-Fascist, who is the first European head of state since 2004 to pay a respect visit to Iran’s anti-Semitic dictatorship", explains Stephan Grigat, the Research Director of STOP THE BOMB. "Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whose hand President Fischer will shake on Tuesday, openly threatens the Jewish State with annihilation and denies the Holocaust. If Fischer really wanted to help improve the situation in Iran, he could anytime officially invite exiled Iranian dissidents to his office in Vienna. But whoever travels to Iran together with a huge business delegation aims at flattering the rulers and legitimizes the Iranian regime’s policies", Grigat added.

The spokesperson for STOP THE BOMB in Austria, Stefan Schaden, warns against financing Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism: "Andritz, OMV, Lenzing, Raiffeisen, Erste Bank and the more than 100 other companies in the delegation must face the accusation that they directly support the brutal oppression of the Iranian population and the financing of Islamist terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. Conducting business with the Iranian regime means to finance the Iranian Revolutionary Guards which control large parts of the foreign trade as well as the nuclear and ballistic missiles programs."