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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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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
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