Germany charges two men in alleged Iran-backed plot to kill Jewish leaders

German federal prosecutors have charged a Danish national, Ali S., and an Afghan national, Tawab M., in an alleged Iran-backed plot to kill prominent Jewish leaders in Germany, a case that sharpens fears about Tehran’s covert reach into Europe and the security of Jewish institutions across the continent.

Prosecutors said Ali S. was acting for the intelligence service of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and kept close ties to the Quds Force. In early 2025, they said, he was tasked with gathering information on Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and Volker Beck, the chairman of the German-Israeli Society. He was also instructed to spy on two Jewish grocers in Berlin, with the information-gathering intended to help facilitate murder and arson attacks in Germany.

The new charges build on a pattern of warnings from German and European security agencies. German authorities said Jewish institutions in Germany had been under heightened protection, especially after the Israel-Iran war, as officials worried that Iranian intelligence activity in Europe had intensified. German prosecutors also said Ali S. allegedly collected intelligence on three Jewish sites in Berlin in June 2025, underscoring how closely the alleged operation focused on Jewish targets in the German capital.

Tawab M. is accused of playing a supporting role in the plot. German reports said he allegedly agreed to obtain a weapon for a third person and persuade that person to attack Jewish targets in Germany. Together, the allegations point to a network built not only around surveillance, but around the practical mechanics of violence: identifying targets, securing weapons and preparing for arson or murder.

The case follows an earlier arrest in Aarhus, Denmark, where authorities in July 2025 detained a Danish citizen on suspicion of spying for Iran and collecting information on Jewish sites and individuals in Berlin. German authorities later said he was extradited to Germany and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. That case, too, centered on Jewish locations in Berlin and reflected the cross-border nature of the threat facing European police and intelligence services.

Germany has already confronted Iran-linked operations before. In December 2023, a German court found that Iranian state agencies were behind a planned arson attack on a synagogue in Bochum. In that case, Babak J. was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison after throwing an incendiary device at a school, causing minor damage but no injuries. Germany later shut all three Iranian consulates in October 2024 after Iran executed the Iranian-German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd, leaving the Iranian embassy in Berlin as Tehran’s only official representation in the country. The latest charges suggest that diplomatic strain has not reduced the security threat.