Iran: Germany summons Iranian ambassador for talks

The German foreign ministry said it summoned the Iranian ambassador to Berlin for talks. The talks come amidst the country’s concerns over Iran’s track record on human rights.

The spokesperson for the German foreign ministry said on Monday that the Iranian ambassador was summoned to the ministry for talks. The spokesperson did not give further details, but the talks come amidst Berlin’s concerns over Tehran’s track record on human rights in light of the ongoing protests that have been taking place since September last year.

Demonstrations erupted across Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish Iranian woman who died in the custody of the morality police. The protests mark the biggest challenge to the country’s clerical rulers since the 1979 Revolution. Tehran has also sought to blame its foreign adversaries for the ongoing protests and has also ramped up its crackdown on the demonstrations, having executed four people on protest-related charges.

The Iranian ambassador’s meeting with the German foreign ministry came the day before a German national was arrested in Iran for allegedly taking photos of “sensitive oil centers” in a province in southern Iran, according to the Iranian daily Jam-e-Jam outlet on Tuesday. The Iranian judiciary had yet to comment on the matter.

Iran also executed British-Iranian national and former Iranian deputy defense minister Alireza Akbari, who was convicted on charges of spying for the United Kingdom, drawing backlash from the West. The United States strongly condemned the execution, as London said the charges against Akbari were politically motivated.

“We were appalled by the execution of Mr. Akbari just as we’ve been appalled by everything we’ve been seeing on the streets of Iran over the last months since these protests began: mass arrests, sham trials, the executions, the use of sexual violence as a tool for protests’ suppression,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference.

“These abuses will not go without consequence. Together with many other countries, we’ve been moving forward with a variety of unilateral actions, multilateral measures, using UN mechanisms, to try to hold Iran to account,” Blinken added.

EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also expressed her support towards designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group on Tuesday. On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, von der Leyen said she supported the designation for the IRGC in light of Tehran’s “trampling” of human rights as highlighted in the ongoing protests.