Germany summons the Islamic Republic's ambassador after Hamburg court ruling

Germany's Foreign Ministry summoned the Islamic Republic's ambassador in Berlin on Monday, 19 October 2026. The move followed a ruling by the Hamburg Higher Regional Court that sentenced two men to prison on charges of spying for the Islamic Republic and preparing attacks on prominent Jewish figures in Germany. In a message on X, the German Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the Islamic Republic's activities and said it would not allow Tehran to threaten Germany's open society.

On Thursday, 15 October, the Hamburg court sentenced a 54-year-old Danish national, identified as Ali Hassan S., to eight and a half years in prison, and his 43-year-old Afghan-born accomplice, Tawab M., to four and a half years. According to prosecutors, since early 2025 Ali Hassan S. had received his orders directly from officers of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC's foreign-operations branch.

The targets of the IRGC plot in Germany

According to the ruling, the two men, who lived in Denmark, had identified and followed Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society. The court found that the aim of these activities was to prepare state terrorist attacks, including the murder of Volker Beck. The older man had also planned to set fire to a kosher grocery store in Berlin. Tawab M. had agreed to recruit a third person to attack Beck and to supply that person's weapon.

Petra Wende-Spors, the presiding judge, called the crimes terrorist activities organised by the Islamic Republic. Both men were arrested in Denmark in 2025 and extradited to Germany. The Islamic Republic's embassy in Berlin had earlier called the allegations baseless and fabricated by Tehran's enemies.

Call to expel the ambassador

After the verdict, Volker Beck called for the Islamic Republic's ambassador to be expelled from Germany. Germany's Foreign Ministry had also summoned the Islamic Republic's ambassador earlier, in June–July 2025, after the arrest of the Danish defendant.

The case is the latest example of the IRGC's transnational repression and terrorist plots in Europe; last month Britain also accused the IRGC of involvement in a plot to attack the Fairford air base.

The Hamburg court found the plot to murder leaders of Germany's Jewish community to be the work of the IRGC's Quds Force, and Berlin summoned the Islamic Republic's ambassador.