Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister of Germany, ordered the closure on Thursday of Iran’s three consulates in the Western European nation.

The development came as a result of the execution on Monday of Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-Iranian dual national living in California, who was kidnapped by Iran while traveling in the United Arab Emirates in August 2020.

Baerbock stated that “we have repeatedly made it clear to Iran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences” and that Berlin had chosen “to close the three Iranian consulates general in Frankfurt am Main, Munich and Hamburg.”

As such, Iranian consulate employees without German citizenship must leave the country.

Baerbock said Germany also calls for sanctions from the European Union against those involved in Sharmahd’s killing. Calling Iran a “dictatorial, unjust regime” she said it “does not act according to normal diplomatic logic,” and “it is not without reason that our diplomatic relations are already at an all-time low.”

On Tuesday, Germany recalled its ambassador to Iran, Markus Potzel, who returned to Berlin to consult on the next steps to be taken.

(JNS)