BERLIN: Iran’s ambassador to Germany was summoned by the foreign ministry on Tuesday after the arrest in Denmark of a man suspected of spying on Jewish targets in Berlin for Tehran.
“We will not tolerate any threat to Jewish life in Germany,” the ministry said in a post on X announcing the summoning.
It added that the allegations needed to be “thoroughly investigated.”
The Danish suspect, identified only as Ali S., was arrested in the city of Aarhus by local police on Thursday, the German federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement earlier on Tuesday.
The man was “strongly suspected of having worked for an intelligence service,” they said.
Ali S. had in early 2025 “received an order from an Iranian intelligence service to collect information on Jewish localities and specific Jewish individuals in Berlin.”
To this end, he allegedly scoped out three properties in June.
The suspected reconnaissance work was “presumably in preparation of further intelligence activities in Germany, possibly including terrorist attacks on Jewish targets,” the statement said.
Speaking on a visit to Odesa in Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that, if confirmed, the incident “would once again underline that Iran is a threat to Jews all over the world.”
According to German weekly Der Spiegel, the suspect had taken photos of buildings including the seat of the German-Israeli Society in Berlin.
Investigators believe Ali S. was working on behalf of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Der Spiegel reported.
Germany has been on high alert for possible attacks against Jewish people since Palestinian militant group Hamas’s assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.
In September, German police shot dead a young Austrian man known to have had ties to radical Islam as he was preparing to carry out an attack on the Israeli consulate in Munich.
German authorities have also been on alert for potential Iranian espionage activity on their soil.
A German-Iranian national was jailed in late 2023 over a plot to attack a synagogue in the western German city of Bochum in 2022.
Authorities said the plot was planned with the help of “Iranian state agencies.”
Berlin summons Iranian ambassador over arrest of alleged spy
https://arab.news/bgvjw
Berlin summons Iranian ambassador over arrest of alleged spy
- The Danish suspect, identified only as Ali S., was arrested in the city of Aarhus by local police on Thursday
- The man was “strongly suspected of having worked for an intelligence service,” they said
Macron vows stronger cooperation with Nigeria after mass kidnappings
- Macron wrote on X that France “will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations”
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that France will step up cooperation with Nigeria after speaking with his counterpart, as the West African country faces a surge in abductions.
Nigeria has been wracked by a wave of kidnappings in recent weeks, including the capture of over 300 school children two weeks ago that shook Africa’s most populous country, already weary from chronic violence.
Macron wrote on X that the move came at Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s request, saying France “will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations,” while urging other countries to “step up their engagement.”
“No one can remain a spectator” to what is happening in Nigeria, the French president said.
Nigeria has drawn heightened attention from Washington in recent weeks, after US President Donald Trump said in November that the United States was prepared to take military action there to counter the killing of Christians.
US officials, while not contradicting Trump, have since instead emphasized other US actions on Nigeria including security cooperation with the government and the prospect of targeted sanctions.
Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups have plagued Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 school girls in the town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants.
The religiously diverse country is the scene of a number of long-brewing conflicts that have killed both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately.
Many scholars say the reality is more nuanced, with conflicts rooted in struggles for scarce resources rather than directly related to religion.
