Germany's foreign minister held a rare meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran in what appeared to have been a complicated deal to obtain the release of two journalists detained for four months, officials said Sunday.
Leading Iranian exile opposition representatives called Guido Westerwelle's visit a "disgrace," saying Germany was bowing to the regime and it could deal a blow to popular protests gathering new steam amid the turmoil in the Middle East.
But the foreign ministry stressed the visit's aim was solely to obtain the release of the two German journalists who had been detained in connection with a highly publicized stoning case.
