Germany will shut all Iranian consulates in Germany but allow the embassy to remain open in reaction to the execution of a German-Iranian national, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Some 32 consulate employees will lose their right to live in Germany and will need to return to the Islamic Republic, according to DW News.
The killing of German-Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd has put "extreme" strain on the relationship between Berlin and Tehran, a ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Tehran executed Sharmahd on Monday after he was found guilty of "terrorism" in 2023. He was accused of planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people. Iranian security forces, according to German media reports, abducted him in 2020 from Dubai so that he could stand trial.
Germany has already recalled its ambassador to Iran, Markus Potzel, over Sharmahd's execution and summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires to voice Berlin's protest.
Iran's international relations
The minister also called on the European Union to add Iran's Revolutionary Guards to its list of terrorist groups.
"We have repeatedly and unequivocally made it clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday, according to DW News.
The foreign minister added that Berlin would seek EU sanctions against those involved in the execution.
Baerbock reportedly connected the execution with Germany's political support for Israel as the Jewish state endures attacks from Iranian proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and militia groups in Iraq.
She reportedly slammed Tehran for playing with the lives of "hostages" over politics, according to German media reports.
"The fact that this assassination took place in the light of the latest developments in the Middle East shows that [Iran's] dictatorial, unjust regime... does not act according to normal diplomatic logic," Baerbock said. "It is not without reason that our diplomatic relations are already at an all-time low.
"Further Germans are also being unfairly held. We are also deeply committed to them and continue to work tirelessly for their release," she said.