Iran's foreign ministry summoned Germany's ambassador in Tehran on Monday, after Berlin summoned Iran's envoy over a Hamburg court verdict on plots against Jewish figures in Germany.
Iran's foreign ministry called in German Ambassador Axel Dittmann in Tehran, according to Arab News and Al Jazeera. The Jerusalem Post, citing Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, also reported the summons.
Berlin had summoned Iranian Ambassador Majid Nili Ahmadabadi on Monday. The German foreign ministry announced this on X, according to AFP, via The Local.
Arab News and AFP described Iran's move as retaliation for Germany's step. Al Jazeera said it came after the German summons.
Both summonses followed a verdict by the Hamburg Higher Regional Court on Thursday. It sentenced two men over plots targeting prominent Jewish figures and others in Germany, according to ZDF and AFP.
The first man is a Danish national, named as Ali Hassan S. ZDF gave his age as 54. He received eight and a half years in prison for preparing assassinations and aggravated arson.
The second is an Afghan national, Tawab M., aged 43, according to ZDF. He was sentenced to four and a half years. Both men were arrested in Denmark last year and extradited to Germany, according to Arab News and Al Jazeera.
The court named two targets. They were Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society.
Prosecutors said Ali S. also planned to target a Jewish grocery shop in Berlin, according to Kurdistan24. They said Tawab M. agreed to recruit a third person and give him a weapon for an attack on Mr Beck.
Prosecutors said Ali S. worked for Iranian intelligence. Türkiye Today reported that the verdict found he took orders from officers of the Quds Force, the foreign operations unit of the Revolutionary Guards. ZDF and the newspaper taz also described links to the Quds Force.
According to AFP, the presiding judge said the men were guilty of terrorist activities orchestrated by Iran. Israel National News, citing AFP, named the judge as Petra Wende-Spors.
ZDF reported that both defendants stayed silent in court. Their lawyers had sought acquittals, and the court followed the federal prosecutors in full. No statement from the defendants had been found.
The German foreign ministry said on X that Iran would not be allowed to threaten Germany's free society. It said the assassination attempts "will have legal consequences", according to AFP, without specifying any action.
It also said Germany did not tolerate attacks on Jewish life, or on those who defend it, anywhere, and certainly not in Germany.
Iran's foreign ministry denied involvement, according to a statement carried by state news agency IRNA and reported by Arab News. It called the accusations "baseless political claims".
The statement said making security-related accusations against Iran had long been a tactic used by Israel and certain Western nations. It said giving such claims a judicial face did not lend them credibility and undermined the standing of the German judiciary.
The Iranian embassy in Berlin had earlier responded when the men were charged, according to AFP. It said the allegations were unfounded and made at the behest of Iran's enemies.
No German reaction to Iran's summoning of Mr Dittmann had been found at the time of reporting.
Federal prosecutors charged the two men in May, according to the Jerusalem Post. The court found that in early 2025 Ali S. was tasked with gathering information on Mr Schuster and Mr Beck, and with spying on two Jewish grocers in Berlin.
Mr Schuster heads the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the main body representing the Jewish community. Mr Beck is a former Green Party member of the Bundestag who now chairs the German-Israeli Society, according to taz.
The Quds Force is the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Tehran has repeatedly rejected similar accusations in Europe.
The verdict may be appealed, but no report of an appeal had been found. No further steps from either government had been reported.
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