Iran summons German envoy in reciprocal move following Berlin’s summoning of its ambassador.
Published On 19 Oct 2026
Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Germany’s ambassador after a Hamburg court convicted two men of plotting to assassinate two leaders of Jewish organizations at Tehran’s direction, dismissing the charges as “baseless political allegations.”
The decision to summon German envoy Axel Dittmann follows Berlin’s move on Monday to call in Iranian Ambassador Majid Nili Ahmadabadi over accusations that Iran orchestrated an assassination plot targeting two prominent pro-Israel figures.
“Security-related accusations against Iran have long been a tactic used by the Zionist regime and certain Western nations,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.
“Attempting to give a judicial veneer to baseless political claims neither lends credibility to such allegations nor serves the standing of the German judiciary,” the statement added.
Hamburg Court Conviction
Berlin’s allegations arise from a case in which a Danish national and an Afghan national were convicted Thursday by a Hamburg court of planning to target the president of Germany’s central Jewish community organization and the head of the German-Israeli Society.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry announced on X that it had summoned the Iranian ambassador, stating that Tehran would not be permitted to “threaten our free society.”
“The malicious assassination attempts against Josef Schuster and Volker Beck will carry legal consequences,” the ministry added.
“We do not tolerate attacks on Jewish life or on those who defend it, anywhere—and certainly not in Germany.”
The Danish defendant, identified in part as Ali Hassan S, received an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence. His Afghan accomplice was sentenced to four-and-a-half years.
According to the court, Iran’s intelligence service directed the two men. They were arrested in Denmark last year and subsequently extradited.
During sentencing, the judge ruled that the men were guilty of “terrorist activities orchestrated by Iran.”
When the charges were first brought, the Iranian embassy in Berlin issued a statement rejecting what it described as “unfounded allegations made at the behest of Iran’s enemies.”
