U.S. Senators Demand that Germany close Iran EIH Bank

U.S. frustration with German chancellor Angela Merkel and her foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, seems to have reached a breaking point this week. Germany’s recalcitrant position about shutting down Iran’s main financial conduit in Europe – the Hamburg-based European-Iranian Trade Bank (EIH) – prompted a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on February 1 to issue a strongly worded letter to German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle.

“We write to express our grave concern with the continued financial support of Iran’s nuclear proliferation activity by Europäisch-Iranische Handelsbank (EIH) in Hamburg and urge the German government to take immediate action to end these practices,” eleven senators wrote.