Germany conducts raids and bans a group accused of having links to Iran and supporting Hezbollah

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Wednesday banned an organization accused of being an “outpost” of the Iranian theocracy, promoting the ideology of its leadership and supporting the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. Police raided 53 buildings across the country, including a well-known mosque in Hamburg.

The ban on the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) and five sub-organizations across Germany followed raids in November. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the evidence collected during the investigation had “confirmed the serious suspicions so strongly that we have ordered the ban today.”

The IZH “promotes an Islamist extremist, totalitarian ideology in Germany,” while it and its sub-organizations “also support Hezbollah terrorists and spread aggressive anti-Semitism,” Faeser said in a statement.

Her ministry stated: “As a direct representative of the Iranian 'Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution', the IZH spreads the ideology of the Islamic Revolution in an aggressive and militant manner and strives for such a revolution in the Federal Republic of Germany.”

The striking, blue-tiled Imam Ali Mosque in Hamburg, the group's best-known facility, was among the buildings searched by police early Wednesday. Raids also took place in Berlin and six other federal states.

The IZH has long been under observation by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and, according to its 2023 annual report, is, alongside the Iranian embassy, ​​the most important Iranian representation in Germany.

There are no reliable figures on members and supporters of the group, which was founded in 1962, it was said. Calls for a ban have been around for years.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry responded to the closure by summoning the German ambassador to Tehran, Hans-Udo Muzel, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The director of the Ministry for Western European Countries, Majid Nili Ahmadabadi, “strongly objected” to the ban, calling it a “hostile act” that contradicted “fundamental principles of human rights,” the report said.

The German Interior Ministry announced that four Shiite mosques in the country would be closed due to the ban. The IZH's assets would also be confiscated. There are an estimated 150 to 200 Shiite communities in Germany, according to the ministry, which stressed that it was not taking action against any religion.

Last autumn, the IZH declared that it “condemns all forms of violence and extremism and has always advocated peace, tolerance and interreligious dialogue.”

The Interior Ministry stated that although the group tries to portray itself as a tolerant and purely religious organization without political ties or a political agenda, “investigations have confirmed beyond doubt that the activities of the IZH are not purely religious in nature.” The group's aim and activities are directed against Germany's constitutional order, it said.

Hamburg's top security official, Andy Grote, declared the group was now “history.” He said “the closure of this outpost of the inhumane Iranian regime is a truly effective blow against Islamic extremism.”

Germany's largest Jewish organization welcomed the ban. “The Iranian mullah regime and its proxies are present worldwide – their goal is the destruction of democracy and our way of life,” Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews, said in a statement.

Hezbollah is banned in Germany. Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip in October, the Iran-backed group and Israel have exchanged fire almost daily across the Lebanese-Israeli border.

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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

Geir Moulson, The Associated Press