“... 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.” 

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: "Shawcross has now disagreed publicly. The Home Office had, he said, ‘ignored’ key recommendations to beef up Prevent’s performance and the glass remained only ‘half full.’ I have some experience of bureaucratic sleight of hand at work when it comes to reviews and recommendations. When I was tasked by the Government to look into the Prison Service’s colossal and unforgivable failures in containing Islamist extremism a few years ago, I made 69 recommendations which were mysteriously repurposed into 11 without my consent; eight were finally accepted."

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.

After the attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, it remains unclear how severely the nuclear program has been damaged. International oversight is limited, and the regime is under pressure. "The Iranians are militarily naked," says Middle East expert Hans-Jakob Schindler [Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Senior Director].

The regime in Tehran is under pressure. "It currently doesn't have many options left to respond," says Middle East expert and terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Counter Extremism Project in an interview with our editorial team. The security situation in Europe and Germany could also be affected.

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler writes: Of course, due to the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, there is still an increased risk that Hamas or Hezbollah sympathizers will decide to commit acts of violence even without instructions from Iran. Unfortunately, it can be assumed that the current military conflict has further radicalized the violence-oriented anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli milieu in Germany. For these reasons, it is important that the German security authorities continue to monitor these dangers closely in the current phase in order to be able to intervene at an early stage. The German government's decision on June 13, the day of the first Israeli airstrikes on Iran, to increase the protection of Israeli and Jewish facilities was important. This increased protection should be maintained.