“First, I want to say that our security authorities are keeping a close eye on the situation,” Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said days after the first US-Israeli strikes on Iran, calling the threat “abstract”—meaning there is no specific evidence of planned attacks yet.
Still, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, warned of possible retaliatory operations in Germany following those bombings. The agency said Jewish institutions such as schools and synagogues could be targeted. Diplomatic representatives, military sites and members of the Iranian opposition living in Germany are also considered at risk. According to the BfV, dissidents have long been subject to surveillance, threats and even kidnappings by Iranian intelligence services.
Felix Klein, the federal government’s antisemitism commissioner, warned that “especially after the killing of Iranian revolutionary leader Ali Khamenei, we can expect Iran to use its networks in Germany to carry out terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli institutions,” he told newspapers of the Funke Media Group.
Marc Henrichmann, chairman of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee for the Secret Services (PKGr), said retaliatory measures are possible, noting Iran has repeatedly shown a willingness to carry out terrorist acts abroad. He added there is no need to panic given current security measures. Lawmaker Omid Nouripour, born in Tehran and a former Green Party leader, likewise believes Iranian services remain capable of attacks in Europe, including Germany, saying Tehran has openly threatened such actions before.
German authorities had already been monitoring possible Iranian intelligence activity earlier in the year amid mass protests in Iran that left thousands dead. Many in Germany showed solidarity with protesters, and the BfV cautioned that transnational repression by Iranian services ranges from targeted espionage, smear campaigns and intimidation to threats and violence.
Cyberattacks appear increasingly prominent. A report published in early February described espionage attempts in Germany, including a group that compromised the electronic communications of Iranian exiles. Victims included human rights activists, journalists and lawyers.
Concerns about vulnerability intensified after the abduction of German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd in 2020; he was taken while traveling abroad and later reported to have been executed, though subsequent reports said he died shortly before a scheduled execution. With the escalating war, the danger could extend to people without direct ties to Iran.
The BfV outlined scenarios in which private emails and social media accounts of diaspora members are hacked to build profiles, map daily lives and reveal private and professional networks. Given these developments, the risk of being targeted by Iranian intelligence services in Germany currently appears more likely to rise than fall.
This article was originally written in German.
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