Germany recalls ambassador from Iran as it protests the execution of an Iranian German prisoner

BERLIN -- Germany protested to Iran on Tuesday over the execution of Iranian German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd, who was kidnapped in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian security forces, and recalled its ambassador to Berlin for consultations.

The Foreign Ministry wrote on the social network X that Iran's charge d'affaires in Berlin was summoned to hear “our sharp protest” against Tehran's action and added that it reserves the right to take “further measures.” It didn't elaborate.

At the same time, German Ambassador Markus Potzel “protested in the strongest terms against the murder of Jamshid Sharmahd" to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, it said. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock then recalled Potzel to Berlin for consultations.

Sharmahd, 69, was put to death in Iran on Monday on terrorism charges, the country’s judiciary said. That followed a 2023 trial that Germany, the U.S. and international rights groups dismissed as a sham.

He was one of several Iranian dissidents abroad in recent years either tricked or kidnapped back to Iran as Tehran began lashing out after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers including Germany.

Iran accused Sharmahd, who lived in Glendora, California, of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people — including five women and a child — and wounded over 200 others, as well as plotting other assaults through the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing.

Iran also accused Sharmahd of “disclosing classified information” on missile sites of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard during a television program in 2017.

His family disputed the allegations and had worked for years to see him freed.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that Potzel had been summoned by the country's Foreign Ministry to protest the stance of some German authorities regarding the Iranian judiciary, and that he was told everyone is equal before the law.

Araghchi said in a post on X that “no terrorist enjoys impunity in Iran. Even if supported by Germany.” He contended that “the evidence is public and available for all to see.”

He accused Baerbock of “gaslighting” and wrote that “your government is accomplice in the ongoing Israeli genocide.” Germany is a staunch ally of Israel and has sharply criticized Iranian attacks on Israel as tensions spiral over the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Sharmahd had been in Dubai in 2020, trying to travel to India for a business deal involving his software company. He hoped to get a connecting flight despite the coronavirus pandemic disrupting global travel.

Sharmahd’s family received their last message from him on July 28, 2020. It’s unclear how the abduction happened. But tracking data showed that Sharmahd’s mobile phone traveled south from Dubai to the city of Al Ain on July 29, crossing the border into Oman. On July 30, tracking data showed the mobile phone traveled to the Omani port city of Sohar, where the signal stopped.

Two days later, Iran announced it had captured Sharmahd in a “complex operation.” The Intelligence Ministry published a photograph of him blindfolded.

Germany expelled two Iranian diplomats last year over Sharmahd’s death sentence.

On Monday night, Chancellor Olaf Scholz labeled the execution a “scandal” and Baerbock said Germany "made it crystal clear to Tehran time and again that the execution of a German national would have severe consequences.”

She didn't say what those might be. There is currently no Iranian ambassador accredited in Berlin. The charge d'affaires is running the embassy after the previous ambassador, Mahmoud Farazandeh, left this summer.

In Brussels, European Union spokesperson Nabila Massrali said, “we do condemn this killing in the strongest possible terms."

She said that “the EU is considering all measures in response,” but noted that any measures would have to be discussed with the bloc's 27 member countries. She did not elaborate on what action might be taken.

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Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Brussels and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran contributed to this report.