Germany has charged a Danish national with participating in an Iranian-backed plot to murder the head of the country’s largest Jewish organization and three other targets, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
The suspect, identified only as Ali S. under German privacy laws, was arrested in Denmark in June 2025. An alleged accomplice, Afghan national Tawab M., was arrested in Denmark in November. Prosecutors filed indictments against both men in Hamburg state court on May 7.
Ali S. was charged with acting as an agent for a foreign intelligence service, engaging in sabotage-related espionage and attempted participation in murder and arson. Tawab M. was charged with attempted complicity in murder.
According to prosecutors, Ali S. worked for the intelligence arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and maintained close contact with the IRGC’s Quds Force, which oversees overseas operations. Investigators said he was tasked in early 2025 with gathering intelligence on Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany; Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society and a former Bundestag member; and two Jewish grocers in Berlin.
“All this served for the preparation of assassination and arson attacks in Germany,” prosecutors stated.
Prosecutors said Ali S. scouted locations in Berlin and sought accomplices to carry out the attacks. By May 2025, he was in contact with Tawab M., who allegedly offered to procure a weapon for an unidentified third person tasked with killing Beck. German authorities said Tawab M. had previously been involved in acquiring weapons and explosive-device components in Denmark.
Following the arrest of Ali S., the German foreign ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador in Berlin. The Iranian embassy denied the allegations, calling them “unfounded and dangerous.”
The case comes amid heightened concern in Europe over suspected Iranian operations targeting Jewish and Israeli interests. In October 2024, explosions were reported near the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen, days after a shooting attack near the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm that Swedish intelligence officials said may have been linked to Iran.
German authorities also arrested a Lebanese national in November 2025 on suspicion of belonging to a Hamas cell plotting attacks on Jewish or Israeli targets in Europe.
