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."