What did they say behind closed doors? It seems like you should be happy that they're cashiering sanctions since this provides a public impetus for the WH to plan an attack. i.e., "sanctions are off the table, we have no other weapon now but military action."
This shortens the diplomatic timeline dramatically and takes away a vital shelter for Ahmadinejad who could count on sanctions to politically drag this out once it became obvious that the WH would not tolerate his nuclear program. So, although economic sanctions hurt the regime in one sense, they've also bought a considerable amount of time.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm inclined to believe that the Germans are working with us, not against us, by backing away from further sanctions. I know that's counter-intuitive, but I take public pronouncements like this with a huge grain of salt.
We see two failed peoples in iraq and iran. The iraqis can’t get their act together as to running, securing their own country; and the iranian people haven’t risen up and dumped the mullahs and their nutjob-shill. And so the elements of armageddon are coming together because of these 2 failed peoples...