Germany charges alleged Iranian agent for scouting out Jewish figures with a view to attacks

BERLIN (AP) — A man arrested last year has been charged with espionage and attempted participation in murder after an Iranian intelligence agency tasked him with gathering information on the head of Germany’s main Jewish group and three others with a view to carrying out attacks, German prosecutors said Thursday.

The suspect, a Danish national identified only as Ali S. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested last June in Denmark. An alleged accomplice, an Afghan national identified as Tawab M., also was arrested there in November. Federal prosecutors said they filed an indictment against the pair at the Hamburg state court on May 7.

Ali S. was charged with working as an agent for an intelligence service, acting as a secret agent for purposes of sabotage and attempted participation in murder and arson. Tawab M. was charged with attempted participation in murder.

Prosecutors alleged that Ali S. worked for the intelligence service of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and was in close contact with the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force.

They said that, at the beginning of 2025, he was tasked with gathering information on the head of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, and on the head of the German-Israeli Society, prominent former German lawmaker Volker Beck, as well as two Jewish grocers in Berlin whom they didn’t identify.

“All this served for the preparation of assassination and arson attacks in Germany,” prosecutors said in a statement.

Ali S. scouted out various locations in Berlin last year and sought accomplices for attacks, they added. By May 2025, he was in contact with Tawab M., who allegedly said that he was prepared to procure a weapon for an unidentified third person and arrange for him to try to kill Beck.

After Ali S. was arrested last year, Iran’s ambassador was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry. The Iranian Embassy at the time rejected what it called “unfounded and dangerous allegations” of an apparent plan for an attack on Jewish facilities.