German Politicians Urge Checks on Iran's Soccer Fans

Reuters - Politicians from Germany's ruling conservatives have said Iranian soccer fans should be rigorously checked before being allowed into Germany for the World Cup this summer, citing concerns that Iran's presence in the tournament poses a security risk.

Conservative German politicians have said Iranian football fans and reporters seeking to enter Germany for the World Cup this summer must be subjected to rigorous security checks, as Germany's top-selling daily newspaper Bild painted what it called a "horror scenario" of Iranian suicide bombers detonating themselves in soccer stadiums.

The newspaper quoted a legal expert from the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), Norbert Geis, as saying: "The domestic intelligence service must very closely scrutinize Iranian football fans who want to come to the World Cup."

An interior affairs expert from the Christian Democrats of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Reinhard Grindel, said: "Even if the number of visa applications from Iran surges ahead of the World Cup, every individual case must be checked carefully."

Bild, which calls Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "The Madman of Tehran," said German security officials were concerned that some of the 840 Iranian fans and 31 Iranian reporters expected to travel to Germany for the World Cup may be dangerous. The Iranian national team will face Angola, Mexico and Portugal in the first round of matches of the World Cup, which starts on June 9.

German politicians and media commentators have called on Ahmadinejad, condemned in the West for questioning the Holocaust and saying Israel should be wiped off the map, to refrain from coming to the World Cup to watch Iran play.Apparently, he has no plans to come anyway.

The UN Security Council has so far failed to agreeon how to deal with Iran and is awaiting a report on April 28 from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on whether Tehran is meeting its demands for a halt to uranium enrichment and answers to queries about its nuclear program.

The United States, Britain and France want the Security Council to weigh sanctions if, as widely expected, the IAEA concludes Iran has not met UN demands. But Russia has said it doesn't believe that would warrant sanctions.