Iran summons German envoy over 'baseless' anti-Tehran charges

Tehran, Dec 21 (IANS) The Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned the German Ambassador to Tehran, Hans-Udo Muzel, over a "baseless accusation" hurled against Tehran in a German court, the state-run media reported.

Majid Nili Ahmadabadi, director general for Western Europe at Iran's Foreign Ministry, also protested the "unacceptable" summoning of the Iranian charge d'affaires in Berlin over an alleged "plot to carry out an arson attack on a synagogue in Germany," said the Iranian Foreign Ministry in a statement, IRNA reported.

During their meeting on Wednesday, the German envoy was reminded that Iran "has a very brilliant track record in promoting the principle of coexistence, as respecting Abrahamic religions has a valuable status in Islam and the Iranian culture," Xinhua news agency reported.

Muzel said he would convey Iran's protest to Berlin at the earliest possible time.

In a statement on Tuesday, the German Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires over the alleged arson plot.

Earlier in the day, the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court convicted a German-Iranian national for "conspiring the attack on the synagogue in the western city of Bochum" in November 2022, and sentenced him to 33 months in prison, claiming that the plot "was linked to the Iranian state agencies."