All 3 Iranian Consulates in Germany Ordered Shut

A photo taken on October 29, 2024 shows an exterior view of the Iranian Embassy in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP)
A photo taken on October 29, 2024 shows an exterior view of the Iranian Embassy in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP)
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All 3 Iranian Consulates in Germany Ordered Shut

A photo taken on October 29, 2024 shows an exterior view of the Iranian Embassy in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP)
A photo taken on October 29, 2024 shows an exterior view of the Iranian Embassy in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP)

Germany ordered the closure of all three Iranian Consulates in the country on Thursday in response to the execution of Iranian German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd, who lived in the United States and was kidnapped in 2020 by Iranian security forces.

Sharmahd, 69, was put to death in Iran on Monday on terrorism charges, the Iranian judiciary said. That followed a 2023 trial that Germany, the US and international rights groups dismissed as a sham.

The decision to close the Iranian Consulates in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich, announced by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, leaves Iran with only its embassy in Berlin, The Associated Press reported.

The German Foreign Ministry had already summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires on Tuesday to protest against Sharmahd’s execution. German Ambassador Markus Potzel also protested to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, before being recalled to Berlin for consultations.

Sharmahd was one of several Iranian dissidents abroad in recent years either tricked or kidnapped back to Iran as Tehran began lashing out after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers including Germany.

Iran accused Sharmahd, who lived in Glendora, California, of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people — including five women and a child — and wounded over 200 others, as well as plotting other assaults through the little-known Kingdom Assembly of Iran and its Tondar militant wing.

Iran also accused Sharmahd of “disclosing classified information” on missile sites of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard during a television program in 2017.

His family disputed the allegations and had worked for years to see him freed.

Iran pushed back against Germany’s protests. Araghchi wrote Tuesday on social network X that “a German passport does not provide impunity to anyone, let alone a terrorist criminal.”

He accused Baerbock of “gaslighting” and wrote that “your government is accomplice in the ongoing Israeli genocide.” Germany is a staunch ally of Israel and has sharply criticized Iranian attacks on Israel as tensions spiral over the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

The closure of consulates, a diplomatic tool Germany seldom uses, signals a major downgrade to diplomatic relations Baerbock said were “already at more than a low point.” Last year, Berlin told Russia to close four of the five consulates it then had in Germany after Moscow set a limit for the number of staff at the German Embassy and related bodies in Russia.

Iran's government “knows above all the language of blackmail, threat and violence,” Baerbock said Thursday. “The latest comments by the Iranian foreign minister, in which he puts the cold-blooded murder of Jamshid Sharmahd in the context of German support for Israel, also speak for themselves.”
“We repeatedly made unmistakably clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen would have serious consequences,” said Baerbock, adding that the cases of Germans held in Iran were a “central part” of a meeting she held with Araghchi in New York a month ago.
She said Berlin will continue with “tireless work” to get an unspecified number of other Germans released.



Islamabad Locked Down ahead of Protests Seeking ex-PM Imran Khan's Release

Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN
Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN
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Islamabad Locked Down ahead of Protests Seeking ex-PM Imran Khan's Release

Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN
Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN

Pakistan's capital was put under a security lockdown on Sunday ahead of protests by supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan calling for his release.
Highways leading to Islamabad through which supporters of Khan, led by members of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, are expected to approach the city and gather near the parliament, have been blocked.
Most major roads of the city have also been blocked by the government with shipping containers and large contingents of police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed in riot gear, while mobile phone services have been suspended.
Gatherings of any sort have been banned under legal provisions, the Islamabad police said in a statement.
Global internet watchdog NetBlocks said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that live metrics showed WhatsApp messaging services had been restricted ahead of the protests.
A key Khan aid, Ali Amin Gandapur, who is the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and is expected to lead the largest convoy into Islamabad, called on people to gather near the entrance of the city's red zone, known as "D Chowk".
Islamabad's red zone houses the country's parliament building, important government installations, as well as embassies and foreign institutions' offices.
"Khan has called on us to remain there till all our demands are met," he said in a video message on Saturday.
The PTI's demands include the release of all its leaders, including Khan, as well as the resignation of the current government due to what it says was a rigged election this year.
Khan has been in jail since August last year and, since being voted out of power by parliament in 2022, faces a number of charges ranging from corruption to instigation of violence.
He and his party deny all the charges.
"These constant protests are destroying the economy and creating instability ... we want the political leadership to sit together and resolve these matters," Muhammad Asif, 35, a resident of Islamabad said in front of a closed market.
The last protest in Islamabad by PTI in early October turned violent with one policeman killed, dozens of security personnel injured and protesters arrested. Both sides accused the other of instigating the clashes.