Germany shuts Iranian consulates after Jamshid Sharmahd execution

Missions to close in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich, but Berlin embassy remains open

Iran's consulate in Hamburg will be closed, along with those in Frankfurt and Munich. AFP

Germany on Thursday announced the closure of three Iranian consulates after the execution of German-Iranian activist Jamshid Sharmahd.

The Iranian consulates in Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich will be shut, with diplomatic relations at “more than a low point”, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said. That leaves the main embassy in Berlin, which will stay open. German representatives remain in Tehran as Berlin seeks to keep diplomatic channels available.

Mr Sharmahd, 69, was sentenced to death in Iran on charges of supporting terrorism and “corruption on Earth” after what Germany said was an unfair trial. The German government and the activist's daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, suggested his execution was an act of retaliation for Israeli strikes against Iran.

Iran's actions show it “does not act according to normal diplomatic logic”, Ms Baerbock said while on a visit to New York. She described Mr Sharmahd as a murdered hostage and called on the EU to add the regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to its list of terrorist groups.

She said closing embassies in Iran and other hostile countries such as Russia would be doing them “a favour”. “Further Germans are also being unfairly held. We are also deeply committed to them and continue to work tirelessly for their release,” she said.

"For them, and for all those in Iran who genuinely have Germany and the things we stand for – freedom, democracy and human rights – close to their hearts, we will maintain diplomatic channels and our embassy in Tehran."

The closure of consulates signals a major downgrade to diplomatic relations. Last year, Berlin told Russia to close four of the five consulates it had in Germany after Moscow set a limit for the number of staff at the German embassy and related offices in Russia.

Iran's government “primarily knows the language of blackmail, threat and violence”, Ms Baerbock said on Thursday. She said Germany had made “unmistakably clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen would have serious consequences”.

Abram Paley, US deputy special envoy to Iran, welcomed Germany’s decision to close the consulates.

"We stand united with the international community in holding the regime accountable,” Mr Paley said in a post on X.

Mr Sharmahd, a German citizen of Iranian descent and a US resident, was a software engineer who had worked and written for an Iranian opposition group's website based abroad, which strongly criticised Iran's leadership. He was seized by Iranian authorities in 2020.

Iran accused him of playing a role in a 2008 mosque bombing in the southern city of Shiraz, in which 14 people were killed and 300 wounded. Tehran has defended his execution and declared that “a German passport does not provide impunity to anyone, let alone a terrorist criminal”.

Germany has already recalled its ambassador to Iran over Mr Sharmahd's execution and summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires to voice Berlin's protest. The EU's foreign affairs high representative Josep Borrell this week said the bloc was “considering measures in response”.