Germany Bans Group Accused of Iran Links and Hezbollah Support, Carries Out Raids 

24 July 2024, Hamburg: Police officers stand in front of the Islamic Center Hamburg with the Imam Ali Mosque (Blue Mosque) on the Outer Alster during a raid. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Hamburg: Police officers stand in front of the Islamic Center Hamburg with the Imam Ali Mosque (Blue Mosque) on the Outer Alster during a raid. (dpa)
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Germany Bans Group Accused of Iran Links and Hezbollah Support, Carries Out Raids 

24 July 2024, Hamburg: Police officers stand in front of the Islamic Center Hamburg with the Imam Ali Mosque (Blue Mosque) on the Outer Alster during a raid. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Hamburg: Police officers stand in front of the Islamic Center Hamburg with the Imam Ali Mosque (Blue Mosque) on the Outer Alster during a raid. (dpa)

The German government on Wednesday banned a Hamburg-based organization accused of promoting the Iranian leadership's ideology and supporting Lebanon's Hezbollah armed group, as police raided 53 properties around the country.

The ban on the Islamic Center Hamburg, or IZH, and its various suborganizations elsewhere in Germany followed searches in November. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said material gathered in the investigation “confirmed the serious suspicions to such a degree that we ordered the ban today.”

The IZH promotes an “extremist, totalitarian ideology in Germany,” while it and its sub-organizations “also support the terrorists of Hezbollah and spread aggressive antisemitism,” Faeser said in a statement.

Her ministry alleged that “as the direct representative of Iran’s ‘Supreme Leader’” and seeks to export the Iranian revolution to Germany.

The group, which runs a mosque in Hamburg, has long been under observation by Germany's domestic intelligence agency. The IZH said last fall that it “condemns every form of violence and extremism and has always advocated peace, tolerance and interreligious dialogue.”

The Interior Ministry said that because of the ban, four Shiite mosques in Germany will be closed. The IZH's assets are also being confiscated.



Iran Says it Has Sent Satellite Into Space

In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA
In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA
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Iran Says it Has Sent Satellite Into Space

In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA
In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA

Iran Saturday sent a research satellite into orbit with a rocket built by the Revolutionary Guard, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The report said the Chamran-1 satellite has a weight of 60 kilograms and successfully reached in 550-kilometer orbit in space. It said testing space hardware and software is the main mission of the satellite.
IRNA said land stations received signals from the satellite, too.
It said the satellite-carrier rocket Qaem-100, using solid fuel, was designed and made by the Guard aerospace division. Iran says it has 13 more satellite launches in a row.
Though Iran has long planned to send satellites into orbit, this is the first launch under reformist President Masoud Pezezhkian after his hardline predecessor Ebrahim Raisi died in a May helicopter crash.
In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket.