“... The people who have been in prison so far cannot therefore be described as prisoners or detainees. "They are hostages of the regime," says Schindler, who now heads the Counter Extremism Project, a think tank that focuses on terrorism. Ultimately, the Iranians are not interested in giving the German detainees a fair trial, but rather in convicting them on flimsy evidence in order to use them as political bargaining chips. This was also the case with Helmut Hofer. "The Iranians' idea was to exchange him for the terrorist Darabi and his accomplices," says Schindler. Kazem Darabi was the mastermind behind the Mykonos attack in Berlin, in which four Kurdish politicians in exile were killed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Germany did not allow itself to be blackmailed by Iran.” 

Iran’s supplies of enriched uranium could be converted into enough weapons-grade uranium to make about nine nuclear bombs at a site like Fordow, Castelli says. However, the uranium “is not going to enrich itself, and Natanz and Fordow are really badly damaged,” cautions Hans-Jakob Schindler, a former German diplomat in Tehran who today directs the Counter Extremism Project NGO.

Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler joins a panel to discuss the Iran war.

The director of the CIA has released a statement saying that Iran's nuclear program was indeed "severely damaged" by US strikes. This follows a leak of a Pentagon assessment suggesting the attacks may have set back the program by only a matter of months. On that, we talk with Hans-Jacob Schindler, Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project. 

The strength of Tehran-backed armed groups is dwindling. Hezbollah has retreated after Israeli strikes, and the deaths of figures like Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh are further weakening the network. "These groups are already doing everything they can ," warns Edmund Fitton-Brown, an advisor to the Counter Extremism Project. The Houthis , meanwhile, are surrounded, and Iraqi militias could act without coordination with Iran.

Security expert Hans-Jakob Schindler warns: If the Iran-Israel conflict escalates, Germany also faces attacks and economic consequences. Terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas have also been underestimated for a long time. Hans-Jakob Schindler is Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project. He is also the former coordinator of the UN Security Council's ISIL, Al-Qaeda, and Taliban Monitoring Team.