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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)
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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.

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World

Pezeshkian Puts Conditions to End the War as Trump Insists Iran is ‘at the End of the Line’

This satellite image taken and released on March 11, 2026 courtesy of Vantor shows a view of damaged buildings after airstrikes at Hakimabad garrison, some 30 kms (20 miles) south of Tehran, Iran. MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Satellite image 2026 Vantor
This satellite image taken and released on March 11, 2026 courtesy of Vantor shows a view of damaged buildings after airstrikes at Hakimabad garrison, some 30 kms (20 miles) south of Tehran, Iran. MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Satellite image 2026 Vantor
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Pezeshkian Puts Conditions to End the War as Trump Insists Iran is ‘at the End of the Line’

This satellite image taken and released on March 11, 2026 courtesy of Vantor shows a view of damaged buildings after airstrikes at Hakimabad garrison, some 30 kms (20 miles) south of Tehran, Iran. MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Satellite image 2026 Vantor
This satellite image taken and released on March 11, 2026 courtesy of Vantor shows a view of damaged buildings after airstrikes at Hakimabad garrison, some 30 kms (20 miles) south of Tehran, Iran. MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Satellite image 2026 Vantor

American and Israeli strikes on Thursday pounded Iran with no sign of an end to the war in sight as unrelenting Iranian attacks on shipping traffic and energy infrastructure pushed oil above $100 a barrel.

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei hasn't yet made a statement or been seen since being chosen to succeed his father Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening day of the conflict.

But Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has suggested that Tehran sought the world to recognize Iran’s “legitimate rights, payment of reparations” and international guarantees against future attacks to see an end of the war.

His comment came as US President Donald Trump reiterated his insistence that US-Israeli strikes had already practically defeated Iran.

"They are pretty much at the end of the line," he told reporters, after delivering a speech to supporters in which he declared: "We've won... we won -- in the first hour it was over."

Trump suggested that Iran’s halting of attacks was not imminent, however, promising to “finish the job” even though he claimed Iran is “virtually destroyed.”

“We don’t want to leave early do we? We’ve got to finish the job," he said at an event Wednesday in Kentucky.

In addition to attacking energy infrastructure around the region, Iran has a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway leading from the Arabian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported.

With traffic in the strait effectively stopped, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose another 9% to more than $100 a barrel, up some 38% over what it cost when the war started.

World

CENTCOM Warns Civilians to Avoid Iranian Ports Used for Military Purposes

A photo shows an Iranian vessel before a strike near the Strait of Hormuz (Photo by US Central Command/AFP) 
A photo shows an Iranian vessel before a strike near the Strait of Hormuz (Photo by US Central Command/AFP) 
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CENTCOM Warns Civilians to Avoid Iranian Ports Used for Military Purposes

A photo shows an Iranian vessel before a strike near the Strait of Hormuz (Photo by US Central Command/AFP) 
A photo shows an Iranian vessel before a strike near the Strait of Hormuz (Photo by US Central Command/AFP) 

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Wednesday warned civilians to avoid using ports along the Strait of Hormuz where Iranian forces conduct military operations that threaten international shipping.

“This dangerous action risks the lives of innocent people,” it said in a statement issued from its headquarters in Tampa, Florida. “Civilian ports used for military purposes lose protected status and become legitimate military targets under international law.”

CENTCOM also urged civilians in Iran to immediately avoid all port facilities where Iranian naval forces are operating. Iranian dockworkers, administrative personnel, and commercial vessel crews should avoid Iranian naval vessels and military equipment.

It said Iranian naval forces have positioned military vessels and equipment within civilian ports serving commercial maritime traffic.

Although the US military also cannot guarantee civilian safety in or near facilities used by the Iranian regime for military purposes, CENTCOM said US forces will continue taking every feasible precaution to minimize harm to civilians.

On Wednesday, spokesperson of Iran’s armed forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi, warned that his forces would target ports across the region if Iranian maritime infrastructure is attacked, urging neighboring states to expel US forces.

Quoted by state TV, Shekarchi said, “If our ports and docks are threatened, all ports and docks in the region will be our legitimate targets.”

He officially denied accusations that naval vessels from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were hiding in commercial or economic ports.

 

 

World

Switzerland Closes Tehran Embassy but Maintains 'Open Line' between US, Iran

07 March 2026, Iran, Tehran: Members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) rescue teams work at the site of a building damaged in an airstrike in Iran, following the strikes launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials, prompting Iran to retaliate with strikes on Israel and Gulf states. Photo: IRCS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
07 March 2026, Iran, Tehran: Members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) rescue teams work at the site of a building damaged in an airstrike in Iran, following the strikes launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials, prompting Iran to retaliate with strikes on Israel and Gulf states. Photo: IRCS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Switzerland Closes Tehran Embassy but Maintains 'Open Line' between US, Iran

07 March 2026, Iran, Tehran: Members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) rescue teams work at the site of a building damaged in an airstrike in Iran, following the strikes launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials, prompting Iran to retaliate with strikes on Israel and Gulf states. Photo: IRCS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
07 March 2026, Iran, Tehran: Members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) rescue teams work at the site of a building damaged in an airstrike in Iran, following the strikes launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials, prompting Iran to retaliate with strikes on Israel and Gulf states. Photo: IRCS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Switzerland said Wednesday it was temporarily closing its embassy in Tehran due to the Middle East war but maintaining an "open line" of communication between the United States and Iran.

For decades, neutral Switzerland has played a key role in maintaining basic diplomatic contacts between Iran and the United States, AFP said.

The foreign ministry in Bern said that in view of the war in the Middle East and the increasing security risk, it had "decided to temporarily close the Swiss embassy in Tehran".

Ambassador Olivier Bangerter and the remaining five other Swiss staff members left Iran by land earlier on Wednesday and will return to Tehran once the situation allows.

"As part of its good offices, Switzerland will continue to maintain an open line of communication between the United States and Iran, in consultation with the two countries," said the ministry statement.

Both the United States and Iran were informed of the temporary closure of the embassy and the departure of its Swiss staff.

"Switzerland will continue to be available to channel communications that the parties consider useful," the statement added.

"The protecting power mandate, under which Switzerland represents US interests in Iran, can be exercised independently of geographical location."

- The protecting power -

Renowned for its neutrality, Switzerland has been representing US interests in Iran since Washington broke off relations with Tehran after the 1980 hostage crisis, a year after the Iranian revolution.

In its role as the so-called protecting power, Switzerland has for decades allowed the two feuding nations to maintain a minimum of diplomatic and consular relations.

The Swiss embassy in Tehran handles all consular affairs between the United States and Iran, including passport requests, altering civil status and consular protection for US citizens in Iran.

Under the protecting power mandate, "Switzerland can either offer to act as a go-between on its own initiative or can fulfil this function at the request of the parties concerned, provided that all those involved agree," the foreign ministry says on its website.

The United States and Iran held a third round of indirect talks through Omani negotiators, on Iran's nuclear program, in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 26.

Two days later, the United States and Israel launched the first wave of attacks in a war that has seen Iran strike targets in multiple countries around the Gulf.

Switzerland has called for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy.