“What makes them unique is the ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ approach, which aims at fooling law enforcement into believing Active Clubs are just about sports,” Alexander Ritzmann, a political scientist and senior advisor at the Counter Extremism Project who studies the movement, told the Guardian. In a 2023 report, Ritzmann warned that the ultimate goal of Active Clubs “is the creation of a stand-by militia of trained and capable [right wing extremists] who can be activated when the need for coordinated violent action on a larger scale arises”.

The Mullah regime in Tehran has so far denied that it is working on its own nuclear arsenal. However, the amount of enriched uranium casts doubt on Tehran's claim. "As the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency, editor's note) has confirmed, Iran has increased its enrichment to 60 percent, and there has also been an increase in missile tests," security expert Hans Jakob Schindler told Deutsche Welle (DW). This situation suggests that Iran may be heading towards the construction of a nuclear bomb.

CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown writes: The West is often accused of "double standards", whether in the field of human rights or foreign interventions, environmental targets or nuclear proliferation. I have had to answer this charge with monotonous regularity throughout my diplomatic career in the Arab World and my five-year stint with the United Nations. The accusation that concerns me here is that we have no moral right to prevent countries like Iran from seeking a nuclear capability when Israel has had nuclear weapons for at least half a century and is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Why are we not trying harder to challenge that? Surely we should insist on the whole Middle East becoming a nuclear weapons-free zone? And, in any case, how can we be so sure that Iran doesn't simply want nuclear energy for peaceful, civilian purposes, as it says it does?

The escalation between Israel and the Iranian mullah regime raises the question of changing the system. There is little cross-party sympathy for the mullah regime in Germany. However, experts such as Hans-Jakob Schindler also warn of "chaos" and negative consequences.

After its blistering attacks on Iran, how much support would Israel need from the United States to completely destroy the regime’s nuclear program? Our guests: Ryma Sheermohammadi (Iran expert); Kristin Helberg (Middle East expert); Hans-Jakob Schindler (terrorism expert); Shani Rozanes (DW).

However, Germany has no influence anyway, said Middle East expert and extremism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler from the Counter Extremism Project on the fringes of a Tagesspiegel panel discussion in Berlin: "We are just onlookers. After the Americans withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, Germany retreated into a corner, we are no longer involved."

"According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has increased its enrichment to 60 percent and has also increased its missile tests. This could be interpreted as an attempt by Tehran to increase its bargaining power vis-à-vis the US. But it could also be seen as Iran moving very quickly towards the production of nuclear weapons," Hans Jakob Schindler, a security expert at the Counter Extremism Project, told DW.

"It is not entirely clear what the Netanyahu government wants to achieve in Iran," says Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project think tank. "When it comes to rolling back Iran's nuclear program, you can roughly calculate how long it will take Israel." It would be different if the country pushed for the fall of the mullah regime, Schindler adds. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Iranian people directly in a speech on Friday and called on them to rise up against the regime. This could lead to a long and unpredictable conflict, warns Schindler.

Following the Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and military leadership, many Arab states are expressing alarm and criticizing Israel. This includes close Western partners such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. In Jordan, Iranian drones that entered the country's airspace were intercepted by air defenses. Civilian air traffic was temporarily suspended for security reasons, as was the case in Lebanon and Iraq. Saudi Arabia calls Israel's actions a "clear violation of international law." Egypt, Oman, and Lebanon also warn of a regional escalation. In Yemen, the Houthi militias threatened consequences. They have already attacked Israel with drones and missiles in the past. Hans-Jakob Schindler, expert on security and terrorism, analyzes the concerns and hopes from the Middle East.