UPI, Berlin, Nov. 24 (excerpts) — A visit to Germany Monday by the leader of a dissident group opposing the clerical regime in Iran may strain relations between Berlin and Tehran.

Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, arrived in Berlin Monday to meet with members of Parliament as part of her broader effort to gain support for her group.

Germany has voiced its opposition to the controversial Iranian nuclear program but stopped short of backing strict sanctions on the Islamic Republic for fear of upsetting economic ties between the two countries.

The NCRI said 150 of the 612-member German Parliament, the Bundestag, signed a petition in support of the Iranian resistance movement.

“If the global community does not want a nuclear Iran and does not want to be confronted with a war, the only solution is democratic change led by the Iranian people and its resistance,” a petition signed by members of Parliament and obtained by the Financial Times says.

The NCRI advocates democratic reform in Iran. The PMOI terrorist designation is under review by several nations, as the group claims it renounced violence in 2001. A European court ruled earlier this year that sanctions imposed on the group were done so illegally, a ruling the group said signaled growing acceptance for its cause.