Dozens of Iranians seeking German visas have staged weekly protests outside Berlin’s consulate in Tehran, Shargh reported on Saturday, saying their applications have been frozen since June’s 12-day war with Israel.
The paper said the gatherings take place every Thursday, with around 100 people holding placards demanding clarity on their cases. Many applicants told Shargh they have been left in “suspension,” with neither approvals nor rejections issued.
Some of the protesters are family members applying for reunification visas. “I have been separated from my wife and children for more than three years. I completed my interview in May but since then there has been no answer,” one applicant, Masoud, was quoted as saying.
Students and jobseekers at risk
Others said they risk losing jobs or university placements. Bita, who has an offer to study for a master’s degree in Germany, said her semester begins in October but no interview date has been set. “The risk of missing my term is real, and then I may have to start the whole process again,” she said.
Shargh estimated more than 6,000 people face delays, including some 4,000 in family reunification cases. Applicants accused Germany of discriminatory treatment, pointing to faster processing in neighboring countries.
Reduced embassy services
The protests follow Germany’s announcement last month that its Tehran embassy would operate at reduced capacity after Ambassador Markus Potzel ended his mission, citing “personal reasons.” Berlin said staff cuts would mean stricter visa issuance.
Impact of the June war
Several embassies scaled back or suspended consular services in Iran during and after the June conflict with Israel, leaving thousands of passports stuck in foreign missions. While some countries have since resumed normal operations, Germany has continued to restrict services.
The café’s Instagram page had advertised a Friday gathering with a DJ and cash prizes for participants. But it later posted an image of a police closure notice and urged followers not to attend.
Despite extensive legal restrictions, more women have taken up motorcycles in Iranian cities in recent years, particularly since the protests over Mahsa Amini’s death in morality police custody. The trend has spread beyond Tehran to places such as Yazd and other provinces, according to officials.
Under current law, women are barred from obtaining motorcycle licenses. The traffic code amendment passed in 2010 specifies men only, leaving women who ride in a legal vacuum. Driving without a license is an offense, yet enforcement against women riders has been uneven, with police issuing warnings or seizing bikes at their discretion.
Kazem Delkhosh, deputy in the parliamentary affairs office of President Masoud Pezeshkian, said in August the government is considering changes. “We are preparing legislation for women who want to ride and the women’s affairs office is also working on a bill,” Delkhosh told the state-run Iran newspaper.
Lack of licensing carries wider consequences, he added. “If a female rider is injured or causes damage, there is no license to hold her accountable or for insurance to cover losses,” Delkhosh said.
Senior police officials maintain the current ban is binding. “According to existing law, licenses for female motorcyclists cannot be issued,” the deputy head of the traffic police said last month.
Religious ban
Clerics often argue that women riding motorcycles (or bicycles) in public settings may attract male attention, threaten societal morality, and undermine women’s chastity—even if they're fully covered.
Others, however, argue the restrictions are inconsistent. “If a woman can drive a bus or truck and earn people’s trust, why not a motorcycle?” sociologist Maryam Yousefi asked in an interview with Iran newspaper.
Rights groups have repeatedly called for change. On International Women’s Day this year, 30 organizations demanded an end to gender-based discrimination.
The sealing of the café has once more underscored the clash between social realities and restrictions, leaving women riders caught between growing public visibility and an unresolved legal void.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a top foreign policy adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Friday Trump’s actions resembled the aggressive policies of Nazi Germany before the Second World War.
“Political experts believe that Trump pursued a path once tested by the head of Nazi Germany, who managed to terrify the Western world by starting World War II in September 1939. In practice, Hitler’s bullying tactics were repeated by Trump,” he told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News.
Velayati said Western powers today are acquiescing to Trump just as Britain, France and Italy once fell under Hitler’s sway.
“At that time Britain was at the peak of its power, France had been strong since Napoleon, and Italy rose after Garibaldi. These three were intimidated by Hitler, and now history has repeated itself."
"Mr. Trump, without learning from the past, is walking the same path — a path that will not be favorable to him,” he added.
China-led bloc to decide word's fate in future
Earlier this week, China hosted the leaders of Russia, India, North Korea, and Iran at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin. The gathering, along with a Chinese military parade on its sidelines, was widely seen as a show of strength directed at archrival America.
“Mr. Xi Jinping, after years of successful governance, was able at this summit to reap the fruits of the important and measured efforts he had pursued based on Chinese wisdom, and even brought his longtime rival, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to Beijing," Velayati said.
He also cited Trump’s recent Alaska pact concerning Ukraine, signed “without consulting his Western counterparts,” and said the Shanghai summit showed the move had quickly backfired.
China has shown “patience and composure in silencing Trump’s footsteps,” Velayati said, adding that Beijing is calmly countering US pressure.
The policy of relying on Asia or the East, particularly China and Russia, was promulgated by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 2018, with the catchphrase, “Looking East”.
"We should look East, not West. Pinning our hope on the West or Europe would belittle us as we will have to beg them for favors and they will do nothing," Khamenei said in a speech in October 2018.
