Germany orders shutdown of all Iranian consulates
October 31, 2024
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday announced that three Iranian consulates are to be closed in Germany in response to the execution of German-Iranian dual national Jamshid Sharmahd.
The consulates are in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich.
German-Iranian relations 'at all-time low'
"We have repeatedly and unequivocally made it clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences," Baerbock said, announcing the closures.
Baerbock also said Germany would seek EU-wide sanctions against those involved in Sharmahd's execution. The minister said this included the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
She condemned Iran for playing politics with hostages, accusing Tehran of seeking to use Germany's support for Israel in the widening Middle East conflict as a justification for Sharmahd's killing.
"The fact that this assassination took place in the light of the latest developments in the Middle East shows that [Iran's] dictatorial, unjust regime... does not act according to normal diplomatic logic," Baerbock said.
"It is not without reason that our diplomatic relations are already at an all-time low," she said.
"Further Germans are also being unfairly held. We are also deeply committed to them and continue to work tirelessly for their release," she said.
The 32 consulate employees will lose their rights to live in Germany and must leave the country, unless they have German citizenship.
Hours after the announcement, Iran announced that it had summoned Germany's charge d'affaires in Tehran to relay a "strong protest" against the "unjust" closures.
The Iranian foreign ministry condemned the move as an "irrational decision" that "cannot be justified."
German ambassador recalled to Berlin
The German Foreign Office on Wednesday announced that its ambassador to Iran, Markus Potzel, had left the country for consultations in Berlin and to protest "in the strongest terms" against Iran's actions.
A spokesman at the time said the "murder" of a German citizen was "extremely straining" on relations with Iran, already reduced to a minimum.
The Iranian judiciary announced Sharmahd's execution on Monday. He was sentenced to death in 2023 after a trial on terrorism charges.
Sharmahd, who lived in the United States, was kidnapped in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian security forces.
The German government, relatives, and human rights activists strongly rejected the accusations against him and dismissed the trial as a sham.
Iran accused Sharmahd of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people.
rc/ab (dpa, AFP)
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