Germany, Netherlands Arrest 9 over Alleged Plan for Attacks in Line with ISIS

The sun rises over the city of Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The sun rises over the city of Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
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Germany, Netherlands Arrest 9 over Alleged Plan for Attacks in Line with ISIS

The sun rises over the city of Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The sun rises over the city of Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Nine people from central Asia were arrested in Germany and the Netherlands on Thursday in connection to alleged plans to carry out attacks in Germany in line with ISIS’ ideology, authorities said.

Seven men arrested in Germany are accused of founding a militant group and of supporting ISIS, German federal prosecutors said. All had known each other for a long time, had radical views and came to Germany more or less simultaneously from Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year, they added.

A year ago, the suspects allegedly formed a group that aimed to carry out attacks in Germany. According to prosecutors, the group was in contact with an ISIS offshoot, ISIS Khorasan Province.

Its members had checked out possible targets in Germany and attempted to procure weapons, but “there was no concrete plan for an attack at the time of today's arrest," The Associated Press quoted prosecutors as saying in a statement. All but one of the men arrested in Germany had been collecting money for ISIS since April 2022 and transferring it to the group, they added.

In the Netherlands, the public prosecution service said that a 29-year-old Tajik man and his 31-year-old Kyrgyz wife, who had been living in the country since last year, were arrested on suspicion of committing preparatory acts for attacks. The man is also suspected of membership in ISIS.

Police suspect that the man “was given the order to plot a terrorist attack,” the prosecution service said in a statement. It said the plans were serious enough for prosecutors to intervene, although they were “not yet concrete.” German prosecutors said the man arrested in the Netherlands belonged to the group formed by the other suspects.

The arrests in Germany were made in various locations in North Rhine-Westphalia state, which borders the Netherlands. German prosecutors identified the men arrested there as Turkmen citizen Ata A., Kyrgyz national Abrorjon K., and Tajik citizens Mukhammadshujo A., Nuriddin K., Shamshud N., Said S. and Raboni Z.

Their full names weren't released in line with German privacy rules.



White House: Trump to Decide on US Action in Israel-Iran Conflict Within 2 Weeks

First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
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White House: Trump to Decide on US Action in Israel-Iran Conflict Within 2 Weeks

First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)

The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will make a decision on whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks.

Citing a message from Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks."

Trump said Wednesday he doesn’t want to carry out a US strike on Iran but suggested he stands ready to act if it’s necessary to extinguish Iran’s nuclear program.

Russia warned the US against entering the Israel-Iran conflict.

“US military interference would be an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

The comments come after Iran’s state media said the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet with European counterparts in Geneva on Friday.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot did not confirm the Geneva meeting.

The message from Iranian authorities was “relatively clear: there is a willingness to resume talks, including with the United States, provided that a ceasefire can be reached,” Barrot told a news conference in Paris.

Barrot said that France and Europeans partners are ready to “resume negotiations” with Iran.