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Al Arabiya
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Alleged Danish spy for Iran handed over to Germany after spying on Jewish targets
Denmark has extradited to Germany a man accused of spying on Jewish institutions in Berlin on behalf of Iran, German prosecutors said Tuesday. Germany's Federal Court of Justice formally ordered the Danish national's detention on Tuesday, the prosecutor's office said in a statement. The suspect, identified only as Ali S., was extradited to Germany on Monday, nearly three weeks after his arrest in the Danish city of Aarhus, the office said. Prosecutors allege that Ali S. in June gathered intelligence on three Jewish sites in Berlin, possibly in preparation for future attacks. Suspected of acting on behalf of Iranian intelligence, Ali S. could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. His arrest followed intelligence provided by Germany's domestic security agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office was also involved in the investigation. News magazine Der Spiegel and public broadcaster ARD reported that the suspect is 53, has Afghan roots and might have been acting on behalf of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. They also reported that he had monitored the headquarters of the German-Israeli Society. Germany's foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador on July 1 following the man's arrest.
Times
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Iran security risk to the UK now equal to that of Russia
The threat of assassination and other violence from Iran is now at the level posed by Russia while the regime also poses a 'significant espionage threat' to the UK, according to a new report. Iranian intelligence operatives are 'ferociously well resourced' and intent on wrecking havoc including cyber attacks, parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee warned. The ISC expressed alarm over a 'sharp increase' in the physical threat to Iranian dissidents and other regime opponents living in the UK. It also underlined there was an increased threat to Jewish and Israeli interests. Security officials told the ISC it meant that the threat of assassination, kidnap and other violence was now comparable to that of Russia, which used polonium to kill Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 and attempted another assassination using nerve agent in Salisbury in 2017. Lord Beamish, chairman of the ISC, warned that Iran's intelligence services' 'high appetite' for risk meant it posed an unpredictable and erratic threat to the UK. In comparison, the resources to allow the British intelligence community to combat the Iranian threat had been 'short-termist' and the reaction had been one of 'firefighting' — responding to immediate threats rather than taking a long term strategic view. There was a 'risk of too much talking at the expense of action'. The committee also warned that the government had been 'paralysed' by the legal and practical difficulties around proscribing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Tehran's fearsome force accused of helping to plot attacks in the UK. It should properly examine whether it was practicable to do so, the ISC said. • Iran steps up repression amid warnings of terror attacks in UK The ISC finished taking evidence in August 2023, before the October 7 attack by Hamas and the increasing military clashes between Israel and Iran. The ISC acknowledged that these had changed the Middle East landscape but said its report was still relevant about the threat to the UK. Security officials have repeatedly warned about the increasing threat from Iran, with police and MI5 disrupting more than 20 Tehran-linked assassination and kidnap plots since January 2022. Tehran has been accused of repression tactics on dissidents and journalists living in the UK. Three Iranians were charged in May with assisting a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act, while five were arrested, and later released without charge, on suspicion of plotting an attack on the Israeli embassy in London. Meanwhile there have been concerns that groups in the UK have been used as part of Tehran's influence campaign.
News24
01-07-2025
- Politics
- News24
Berlin summons Iranian ambassador over arrest of alleged spy
Iran's ambassador to Germany was summoned after a suspected spy was arrested in Denmark. The man allegedly scouted Jewish sites in Berlin on orders from Iranian intelligence. Germany warned it won't tolerate threats to Jewish life and is investigating possible terror links. Iran's ambassador to Germany was summoned by the foreign ministry on Tuesday after the arrest in Denmark of a man suspected of spying on Jewish targets in Berlin for Tehran. 'We will not tolerate any threat to Jewish life in Germany,' the ministry said in a post on X announcing the summoning. It added that the allegations needed to be 'thoroughly investigated'. The Danish suspect, identified only as Ali S, was arrested in the city of Aarhus by local police on Thursday, the German federal prosecutor's office said in a statement earlier on Tuesday. The man was 'strongly suspected of having worked for an intelligence service', they said. READ | Iran unleashes 'wave of repression' after Israel war - activists Ali S had, in early 2025, 'received an order from an Iranian intelligence service to collect information on Jewish localities and specific Jewish individuals in Berlin'. To this end, he allegedly scoped out three properties in June. The suspected reconnaissance work was 'presumably in preparation for further intelligence activities in Germany, possibly including terrorist attacks on Jewish targets', the statement said. Speaking on a visit to Odesa in Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that, if confirmed, the incident 'would once again underline that Iran is a threat to Jews all over the world'. According to German weekly Der Spiegel, the suspect had taken photos of buildings, including the seat of the German-Israeli Society in Berlin. Investigators believe Ali S was working on behalf of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Der Spiegel reported. Germany has been on high alert for possible attacks against Jewish people since the Palestinian militant group Hamas's assault on Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza. In September, German police shot dead a young Austrian man known to have had ties to radical Islam as he was preparing to attack the Israeli consulate in Munich. German authorities have also been on alert for potential Iranian espionage activity on their soil. A German-Iranian national was jailed in late 2023 over a plot to attack a synagogue in the western German city of Bochum in 2022. Authorities said the plot was planned with the help of 'Iranian state agencies'.
The Independent
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Man accused of gathering information on Jews in Berlin for Iran arrested in Denmark, officials say
A man suspected of gathering information on Jewish locations and individuals in Berlin for Iranian intelligence, possibly with a view to carrying out attacks, has been arrested in Denmark, German prosecutors said Tuesday. The Danish national, identified only as Ali S. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested on Thursday in the Danish city of Aarhus, federal prosecutors said in a statement. The man was tasked by an Iranian intelligence service early this year with gathering information on 'Jewish localities and specific Jewish individuals' in Berlin, prosecutors said. They didn't elaborate. He spied on three properties in June, 'presumably in preparation of further intelligence activities in Germany, possibly including terrorist attacks on Jewish targets,' prosecutors said. The suspect is accused of working for an intelligence service of a foreign power. The information leading to his arrest came from Germany's domestic intelligence service, prosecutors said. The suspect will be brought before a judge in Germany to determine whether he is kept in custody pending formal charges after extradition from Denmark. It was not immediately clear when that will happen. Germany is a staunch ally of Israel and has a long history of tense relations with Tehran, though it has been one of the three leading European powers trying to engage Iran in diplomacy over its nuclear program. In October, Germany ordered the closure of all three Iranian Consulates in the country in response to the Iranian judiciary's announcement of the execution of Iranian German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd, who lived in the United States and was kidnapped in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian security forces. That left the Islamic Republic with only its embassy in Berlin.
Washington Post
01-07-2025
- Washington Post
Man accused of gathering information on Jews in Berlin for Iran arrested in Denmark, officials say
BERLIN — A man suspected of gathering information on Jewish locations and individuals in Berlin for Iranian intelligence, possibly with a view to carrying out attacks, has been arrested in Denmark, German prosecutors said Tuesday. The Danish national, identified only as Ali S., was arrested on Thursday in the Danish city of Aarhus, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
