Iranian newspaper threatens Germany's Chancellor Merz

Teheran's ultra-conservative newspaper Hamshahri published images of thirteen Western politicians "wanted" for the death of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, along with a statement claiming the politicians would pay the ultimate price. Among the politicians was German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU).

In addition to Merz, it also featured US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, among others. In the images, all of them are wearing orange prison uniforms, as are common in US prisons.

Since late February, many European countries have supported the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, for example, by giving them permission to fly through their airspace.

Merz in early March: 'The mullah regime is coming to an end'

After US and Israeli attacks on Iran began in early March, Merz said that the German government shared the relief felt by many Iranians that this regime was now coming to an end. He went on to say: "We share the interest of the United States and Israel in seeing an end to this regime's terror and its dangerous nuclear and ballistic armament." Thus far, however, the regime remains in power.

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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed at the very start of the campaign against Iran. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, is now his successor. In a written statement, Mojtaba Khamenei announced "retaliation" for his father's death.

Last week's online article in the widely read Iranian newspaper stated: "Retaliation is inevitable. The criminals will take their wish for a peaceful death to the grave."

It was not included in the Sunday print edition of Hamshahri, and it was deleted from the website by the beginning of this week.

Government Officials say attacks by Iran should be expected

Even so, German government officials as well as the opposition environmentalist Green Party, expressed concern.

Marc Henrichmann, the chairman of the Bundestag oversight committee responsible for monitoring Germany's intelligence agencies, said: "We have to assume that Iran's intelligence services are planning attacks in Europe as well."

German security agencies are particularly concerned about what are known as "disposable agents," or individuals who are only recruited to carry out a single attack.

Sebastian Fiedler, spokesperson for domestic policy for the parliamentary group of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), expressed similar concerns. He told the newspaper Die Welt that he saw a high threat level, and that current events reinforced this assessment.

He explained that the current situation is likely to "stir up extremist groups and mobilize lone actors."

However, many politicians also added that the chancellor is already under extremely tight security and that increased security measures for Friedrich Merz are not necessary at this time.

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The vice president of the Bundestag, Green Party politician Omid Nouripour, was born in Iran.

Nouripour told DW: "In Germany, we have had many past experiences with state-sponsored terrorism exported by Iran. The newspaper would not have been able to get the death threat past the censors if the regime hadn't wanted it. So we have to take this seriously. When a regime targets our head of government, that is hostile behavior and should be treated as such."

As for the German government, its response has been very reserved. At Monday's routine press conference, deputy spokesperson Steffen Meyer said only that they had taken note of the death threat and declined to comment further.

Authorities estimate some 180 potentially dangerous individuals in Germany

One thing is clear, however: Security experts are not prepared to rule out the possibility of Iranian terrorist activities in Germany.

Authorities estimate that there are around 180 individuals in Germany who are active either on behalf of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guards or for the Iranian intelligence service. In response to an inquiry from the online portal Euractiv, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, stated as early as May that the Iranian intelligence service has long been prepared to resort to actions tantamount to state terrorism.

According to the agency, "these include everything from threats against specific individuals to intelligence gathering aimed at planning potential attacks."

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution further stated that the Iranian security apparatus has been significantly weakened by the ongoing attacks in Iran. However, there are fears that Tehran could redirect its activities abroad once pressure on the regime eases — for example, after an official end to the war.

This article was originally published in German.

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