Germany’s Baerbock talks ‘consular cases’ with Iran

German FM Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 11, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 13 September 2023
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Germany’s Baerbock talks ‘consular cases’ with Iran

  • Campaigners have been pleading for Germany to help Jamshid Sharmahd, a German citizen of Iranian descent, who has been sentenced to death by Tehran
  • Family says that Tehran-born Sharmahd, 68, was kidnapped by Iranian security services in the UAE, spirited over the border into Oman and then taken to Iran for trial

BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday discussed “consular cases” in a phone call with her Iranian counterpart, her ministry said.
Baerbock and Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian “discussed their different stances on a range of issues,” the ministry wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“There was a particular focus on German consular cases” in the conversation, which was “open, clear and straightforward,” it said.
Campaigners have been pleading for Germany to help Jamshid Sharmahd, a German citizen of Iranian descent, who has been sentenced to death by Tehran.
Sharmahd was abducted in late July 2020 by the Iranian authorities and sentenced earlier this year to be hanged for “corruption on earth.”
Iran’s Supreme Court in April confirmed the death penalty.
Activists regard him as one of more than a dozen foreign passport holders held by Iran as hostages in a bid to extract concessions from the West.
His family says that Tehran-born Sharmahd, 68, a software developer who emigrated to Germany in the 1980s but then moved to live in the United States, was kidnapped by Iranian security services in the United Arab Emirates in July 2020, spirited over the border into Oman and then taken to Iran for trial.
His daughter has met US officials in Washington seeking their help to pressure Iran to spare her father from death row.
She has also brought charges in Germany against eight Iranian officials for “crimes against humanity.”
Baerbock is currently on a trip to the United States and on Tuesday visited Austin, Texas. She is due in Washington and New York later in the week.


US plans meeting for Gaza ‘Board of Peace’ in Washington on Feb 19, Axios reports

Updated 07 February 2026
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US plans meeting for Gaza ‘Board of Peace’ in Washington on Feb 19, Axios reports

  • The Axios report cited a US official and diplomats from four countries that are on the board
  • The plans for the meeting, which would also be a fundraising conference for Gaza reconstruction, are in early stages and could still change, Axios reported

WASHINGTON: The White House is planning the first leaders meeting for President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” in relation to Gaza on February ​19, Axios reported on Friday, citing a US official and diplomats from four countries that are on the board.
The plans for the meeting, which would also be a fundraising conference for Gaza reconstruction, are in early stages and could still change, Axios reported.
The meeting is planned to be held at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, the report added, noting that Israeli Prime ‌Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‌is scheduled to meet Trump at the ‌White ⁠House ​on ‌February 18, a day before the planned meeting.
The White House and the US State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
In late January, Trump launched the board that he will chair and which he says will aim to resolve global conflicts, leading to many experts being concerned that such a board could undermine the United Nations.
Governments around ⁠the world have reacted cautiously to Trump’s invitation to join that initiative. While some ‌of Washington’s Middle Eastern allies have joined, many ‍of its traditional Western allies have ‍thus far stayed away.
A UN Security Council resolution, adopted in ‍mid-November, authorized the board and countries working with it to establish an international stabilization force in Gaza, where a fragile ceasefire began in October under a Trump plan on which Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas signed off.
Under ​Trump’s Gaza plan revealed late last year, the board was meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump thereafter said ⁠it would be expanded to tackle global conflicts.
Many rights experts say that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory’s affairs resembled a colonial structure and have criticized the board for not including a Palestinian.The fragile ceasefire in Gaza has been repeatedly violated, with over 550 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since the truce began in October. Israel’s assault on Gaza since late 2023 has killed over 71,000 Palestinians, caused a hunger crisis and internally displaced
Gaza’s entire population.
Multiple rights experts, scholars and a UN inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defense after Hamas-led ‌militants killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages in a late 2023 attack.