Germany appeared over the past several months to have finally fallen in line behind European Union efforts to stiffen economic sanctions against Iran. But in late October a group of German parliamentarians dealt a blow to the campaign to isolate Iran’s rulers. Bundestag Members Bijan Djir-Sarai of the Free Democratic Party, Thomas Feist of the Christian Democrats and Angelika Graf of the Social Democratic Party traveled to Tehran for a five-day visit.

Among other regime figures, the delegation met with Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran’s human rights committee, who made a name for himself in Germany by denying the Holocaust, justifying the stoning of women, and calling for the destruction of Israel during a 2008 conference in Berlin.