Iran issues 'strong protest' after Berlin decision to close consulates in Germany

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the country will close the three Iranian consulates on its soil in response to the execution in Iran of German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd.

Iran on Thursday summoned the charge d'affaires of the German embassy in Tehran to issue a protest after Berlin said it would close three Iranian consulates in Germany.

A foreign ministry statement condemned the move as an "irrational decision" that "cannot be justified", and said Germany's envoy was summoned to relay Iran's "strong protest".

German ambassador to Tehran Markus Potzel had already been recalled to Berlin for consultations.

Earlier on Thursday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the country will close the three Iranian consulates on its soil in response to the execution in Iran of German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd.

"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 closure of the consulates in Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg in a televised speech.

Sharmahd, 69, had been sentenced to death in February 2023 for the capital offence of "corruption on Earth", a sentence later confirmed by Iran's Supreme Court.

He had been convicted of involvement in a 2008 mosque bombing in the southern city of Shiraz, in which 14 people were killed and 300 wounded.

His family have long maintained that Sharmahd was innocent.

"The German government's decision to close these centres deliberately deprives Iranians of the benefit of consular facilities and services," the foreign ministry statement said.

It warned that "Germany's unconstructive and confrontational approach is a major miscalculation, and the German government will be responsible for its consequences".

Published - November 01, 2024 02:14 am IST