Germany has long had a travel warning for Iran and asked nationals to leave because, as seen from the execution of a German-Iranian national, Tehran takes German citizens hostage, said a foreign ministry spokesperson in Berlin on Friday.
"We have long had a travel warning for Iran and a request to Germans in Iran to leave the country because we saw from the Jamshid Sharmahd case that Iran is taking German citizens hostage," said the spokesperson at a government news conference.
"We want to spare other German citizens this fate."
Germany ordered the closure of all three Iranian Consulates in the country on Thursday in response to Sharmahd’s execution.
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.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X Friday that Germany's closure of Iran's consulates in the country amounted to a "sanction" against Iranians residing in Germany.
