Iran Summons Meddlesome German Ambassador
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday summoned Germany’s ambassador over meddling tweets about the execution of a man convicted of murdering a man during Western-backed riots in 2018.
The ministry "strongly condemned” the tweets and told German envoy Hans-Udo Muzel that the reaction was considered to be an "interference in the internal affairs” of Iran, an official statement read.
It called on the German embassy to "recognize the limits of its diplomatic duties and not go beyond them.”
"Interference in the laws, regulations and judicial procedures of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not tolerable in any way,” the statement added.
Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old convict, was executed at a prison in the southern city of Shiraz on Saturday.
According to Iran’s judiciary, he had been found guilty of "voluntary homicide” for stabbing to death a water department employee on August 2, 2018.
In a message written in Farsi posted on its official Twitter account on Sunday, the German embassy said, "We were deeply shocked by the execution of Navid Afkari.”
The embassy said that Afkari’s two brothers held in connection with the riots "are still in prison and now they need our solidarity.”
Earlier on Monday, a judiciary official condemned the "interference of some European embassies” and called on them to "not be a loudspeaker for lies like an opposition group.”
"Foreign pressure will neither dull the sharp tip of the judiciary’s justice, nor lessen its Islamic mercy and compassion,” Mizan Online quoted the judiciary’s deputy head for international affairs Ali Baqeri as saying.
‘U.S. Report of Assassination Plan Baseless’
Separately, Iran vehemently dismissed a U.S. report that Tehran planned to kill a US diplomat in retaliation for American assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.
The outright rebuttal by Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeid Khatibzadeh on Monday came after Politico news website claimed that Iran had sought to assassinate US Ambassador to South Africa Lana Marks.
Khatibzadeh said the "biased and agenda-driven” report published in the American media outlet cited the statements of a seemingly U.S. government official in an effort to make it appear true.
"We advise American officials to stop resorting to hackneyed and outworn methods to create Iranophobic atmosphere on the international arena,” he said.
The article claimed to be based on U.S. intelligence reports, allegedly seen by a U.S. government official and another official familiar with the documents, stating that Marks had likely been chosen due to her closeness to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Khatibzadeh said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran, as a responsible member of the international community, has demonstrated its continued adherence to the principles and customs of international diplomacy.”
"In contrast, it is the United States and the current regime in the White House that, especially in recent years, has shown its disregard for basic diplomatic principles and become a pariah regime in the international arena with numerous actions outside the internationally-accepted methods and norms, including the design and execution of dozens of assassination plans and military and intelligence interventions, withdrawal from numerous international agreements, violation of territorial integrity and the cowardly assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, the glorious commander of the fight against terrorism.”
On January 3, the United States used an armed drone to assassinate General Soleimani along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and a number of their companions, outside Baghdad airport.
Iran responded to the terrorist act with a volley of ballistic missiles fired at two U.S. bases in Iraq, which left about 110 American troops injured.
Khatibzadeh said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran, as it has repeatedly stated, will continue to pursue international legal action in connection with the criminal and cowardly assassination of General Soleimani at all levels, and will neither forgive nor forget this terrorist act.”
The spokesman said baseless allegations such as the one published in the Politico are "part of the Trump administration’s counter-intelligence campaign against Iran.”
"The U.S. regime’s resort to anti-Iranian accusations and lies in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, and at the same time its pressure to abuse UN Security Council mechanisms to increase pressure on the Iranian people, was predictable.
"Nevertheless, such moves and news fabrications, probably to continue in the future, will certainly remain futile, adding to Washington’s long list of ongoing failures against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he added.
The ministry "strongly condemned” the tweets and told German envoy Hans-Udo Muzel that the reaction was considered to be an "interference in the internal affairs” of Iran, an official statement read.
It called on the German embassy to "recognize the limits of its diplomatic duties and not go beyond them.”
"Interference in the laws, regulations and judicial procedures of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not tolerable in any way,” the statement added.
Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old convict, was executed at a prison in the southern city of Shiraz on Saturday.
According to Iran’s judiciary, he had been found guilty of "voluntary homicide” for stabbing to death a water department employee on August 2, 2018.
In a message written in Farsi posted on its official Twitter account on Sunday, the German embassy said, "We were deeply shocked by the execution of Navid Afkari.”
The embassy said that Afkari’s two brothers held in connection with the riots "are still in prison and now they need our solidarity.”
Earlier on Monday, a judiciary official condemned the "interference of some European embassies” and called on them to "not be a loudspeaker for lies like an opposition group.”
"Foreign pressure will neither dull the sharp tip of the judiciary’s justice, nor lessen its Islamic mercy and compassion,” Mizan Online quoted the judiciary’s deputy head for international affairs Ali Baqeri as saying.
‘U.S. Report of Assassination Plan Baseless’
Separately, Iran vehemently dismissed a U.S. report that Tehran planned to kill a US diplomat in retaliation for American assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.
The outright rebuttal by Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeid Khatibzadeh on Monday came after Politico news website claimed that Iran had sought to assassinate US Ambassador to South Africa Lana Marks.
Khatibzadeh said the "biased and agenda-driven” report published in the American media outlet cited the statements of a seemingly U.S. government official in an effort to make it appear true.
"We advise American officials to stop resorting to hackneyed and outworn methods to create Iranophobic atmosphere on the international arena,” he said.
The article claimed to be based on U.S. intelligence reports, allegedly seen by a U.S. government official and another official familiar with the documents, stating that Marks had likely been chosen due to her closeness to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Khatibzadeh said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran, as a responsible member of the international community, has demonstrated its continued adherence to the principles and customs of international diplomacy.”
"In contrast, it is the United States and the current regime in the White House that, especially in recent years, has shown its disregard for basic diplomatic principles and become a pariah regime in the international arena with numerous actions outside the internationally-accepted methods and norms, including the design and execution of dozens of assassination plans and military and intelligence interventions, withdrawal from numerous international agreements, violation of territorial integrity and the cowardly assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, the glorious commander of the fight against terrorism.”
On January 3, the United States used an armed drone to assassinate General Soleimani along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and a number of their companions, outside Baghdad airport.
Iran responded to the terrorist act with a volley of ballistic missiles fired at two U.S. bases in Iraq, which left about 110 American troops injured.
Khatibzadeh said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran, as it has repeatedly stated, will continue to pursue international legal action in connection with the criminal and cowardly assassination of General Soleimani at all levels, and will neither forgive nor forget this terrorist act.”
The spokesman said baseless allegations such as the one published in the Politico are "part of the Trump administration’s counter-intelligence campaign against Iran.”
"The U.S. regime’s resort to anti-Iranian accusations and lies in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, and at the same time its pressure to abuse UN Security Council mechanisms to increase pressure on the Iranian people, was predictable.
"Nevertheless, such moves and news fabrications, probably to continue in the future, will certainly remain futile, adding to Washington’s long list of ongoing failures against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he added.