TEHRAN -- Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador and Sweden’s top envoy in Tehran on Thursday, delivering forceful protests over hostile policies and meddling in its internal affairs, and gave a Swedish diplomat 48 hours to leave the country.
The ministry said German Ambassador Axel Wilhelm Dittmann was summoned by Alireza Yousefi, assistant minister and director general for Western Europe, over recent “baseless remarks” by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Berlin’s “unjustified and destructive” approach.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Wednesday, Merz accused Iran of supporting what he called “regional proxies,” pursuing a “military nuclear program,” and obstructing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Yousefi called on Berlin to abandon its hostile stance, saying people across the region regard the German government as complicit in Israel’s “genocide” and other crimes against Palestinians. 
He also objected to the German embassy’s “interventionist activities” in Tehran, saying diplomatic missions must respect host-country sovereignty. Dittmann said he would convey Iran’s protest to Berlin.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei dismissed Merz’s designation of regional resistance movements as “proxies,” calling them independent actors fighting for “self-determination, freedom, and dignity.” 
He rejected the portrayal of Iran as the source of the Strait of Hormuz crisis, saying the U.S. and Israel launched the war and Germany failed to show “minimum moral courage” to deplore it. He reiterated that Tehran possesses no “military” nuclear program.
Separately, Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned Sweden’s decision to bar an Iranian diplomat serving at its embassy in Stockholm from continuing his activities, calling the allegations baseless. 

It said the Swedish ambassador was summoned by Yousefi and informed that one of Sweden’s diplomats in Tehran must leave within 48 hours.
“The Swedish government’s action is undoubtedly the result of influence by the Zionist regime and an attempt to disrupt the normal activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s embassy in Stockholm,” the statement said, warning of international responsibility under the 1961 Vienna Convention.
Sweden’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it had summoned Iran’s ambassador and asked an official at the Iranian embassy to leave over activities “not compatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.” 
Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer told SVT the decision concerned Iran’s alleged activities against “Jewish and Israeli interests” in Sweden.