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Germany Orders Shutdown of Iranian Consulates Over Execution: ‘Diplomatic Relations at More Than a Low Point’
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a session of the lower house of parliament Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Germany will close all three Iranian consulates on its soil in response to Iran’s execution of a German-Iranian dual national, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced on Thursday.
“We have repeatedly and unequivocally made it clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences,” Baerbock said in a televised speech announcing the closures.
The consulates are located in Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich. According to German media, the consulate employees will lose their rights to live in Germany and must leave the country, unless they have German citizenship.
“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.”
Baerbock’s comments came after the Iranian judiciary announced the execution of German–Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd, 69, on Monday.
Sharmahd, a German citizen of Iranian descent who lived in the United States, was sentenced to death last year on charges of “corruption on earth,” a capital offense under Iran’s Islamic laws. The Iranian regime had accused and convicted him of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people.
Sharmahd’s family has long maintained that he was innocent. The German government and human rights activists similarly rejected the accusations against him, calling the trial a sham.
However, Iran defended the execution.
“No terrorist enjoys impunity in Iran. Even if supported by Germany,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X/Twitter on Tuesday. “A German passport does not provide impunity to anyone, let alone a terrorist criminal. Enough with the gaslighting, [Annalena Baerbock].”
Sharmahd had reportedly worked for an Iranian opposition group’s website that strongly criticized Iran’s Islamist regime. Iranian security forces seized the dual national in 2020, when he was traveling through the United Arab Emirates.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lambasted the execution as a “scandal that I condemn in the strongest possible terms.”
Germany recalled its ambassador to Iran for consultations over the execution and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires to voice Berlin’s protest, according to the German foreign office.
On Thursday, Baerbock said Germany would seek European Union-wide sanctions against those involved in Sharmahd’s execution and called on the EU to add Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its list of terrorist groups.
The top German diplomat also accused Iran of trying to use Germany’s support for Israel in the ongoing Middle East conflict to justify Sharmahd’s killing. Araghchi referenced German support for Israel in his tweet earlier this week in an apparent attempt to say Berlin was being hypocritical on the issue of human rights.
During her speech, Baerbock noted that more Germans are currently detained and slammed Iran for using hostages for political gain.
“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 post Germany Orders Shutdown of Iranian Consulates Over Execution: ‘Diplomatic Relations at More Than a Low Point’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.