Iran International
Iranian media and some officials have intensified rhetoric about retaliating against Israel for the Hamas leader's killing in Tehran as the US bolsters its military presence in the region.
According to these reports, Niknejad and his wife were detained at Berlin airport upon their return from a one-month leave, three weeks after the closure of Islamic centers affiliated with the Islamic Republic across Germany, and were subsequently deported back to Iran.
An Iran International source told our correspondent, Ahmad Samadi, that Niknejad became involved in a confrontation with airport police after realizing he was not permitted to enter Germany.
Previously, in November 2022, Soleiman Mousavifar, the deputy head of the Islamic Center of Hamburg, was expelled for supporting Hezbollah.
Germany shut down the Khamenei-controlled Islamic Center of Hamburg and Blue Mosque in July for its role in serving as a hub of terrorist ideology, antisemitism and anti-democratic threats to the Federal Republic’s constitution order, according to the interior ministry.
When asked the closure, a German interior ministry (BMI) spokesman, Lars Harmsen, told Iran International on Thursday that “In addition to the Islamisches Zentrum Hamburg, the BMI has also banned sub-organisations and confiscated their assets. These were the following: the Islamische Akademie Deutschland, the Verein der Förderer einer iranischen-islamischen Moschee in Hamburg, the Zentrum der Islamischen Kultur in Frankfurt (Main), the Islamische Vereinigung Bayern in Munich, and the Islamisches Zentrum Berlin.”
When asked by Iran International if the confiscated assets from Iran’s regime, the Islamic Center of Hamburg and Blue Mosque and other entities, will be used to provide compensation to the Iranian victims of terrorism in Germany, the spokesman said, "Concrete plans for a future usage of the Blue Mosque and other confiscated assets can only be made by the BMI once the ban is final. Therefore, the outcome of the administrative procedure remains to be seen.”
When questioned about future closures of other Iranian regime-linked and controlled centers, mosques and associations the BMI spokesman said, “In principle, the BMI does not comment on possible further bans, regardless of whether there is reason to consider them in individual cases or not…”
Meanwhile, Iranian-German dissidents are urging the German authorities to shutter additional organizations and mosques linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Dr. Kazem Moussavi, the spokesman for the Green Party of Iran in exile in Germany, told Iran International “The closure of the Islamic Center of Hamburg was long overdue and necessary. The closure came too late and is insufficient. Germany’s appeasement policies toward Iran’s regime continues. “
He urged that Germany to shut down the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Berlin and the regime-linked Al-Mustafa Institute in Berlin , as well as the pro-Khamenei Islamic Community of Shiite Communities. Moussavi termed the Iranian regime embassy and other Tehran-linked entities a “security risk” for Germany.
According to Moussavi, the Al-Mustafa Institute’s director was a long-time religious teacher from the banned IAD (Islamic Academy in Germany). The Al-Mustafa Institute in Berlin is part of the Al-Mustafa International University in Iran, where foreign recruits are being ideologically trained.
“The Al-Mustafa International University is the main institution for exporting the regime's ideology to the Islamic world, the West and Germany. It has over a hundred branches worldwide with more than 40,000 students,” said Moussavi.”
He added that the organization of Islamic Community of Shiite communities has more than 150 mosques and the director of the now-defunct Islamic Center of Hamburg is the chairman of the spiritual council of the Islamic Community of Shiite Communities.
Moussavi noted that the largely pro-Iran regime German Körber Foundation is Hamburg protects and supports Seyyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Tehran diplomat who currently is employed by Princeton university. Körber’s cooperation with him legitimizes his past activities, Mousavi argued.
The Iranian-German dissident, Mina Ahadi, who is leading the Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) campaign in Germany to compel Körber to pull the plug on its relations with Mousavian and Iran’s government, told Iran International Germany should close the Iranian regime’s “embassy and consulate and the Islamic Community of Shiite Communities.”
She added that Germany needs to sanction the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Ahadi said there “must put more pressure” on the Körber Foundation.
“Körber must see that when it works together with the Islamic regime, they are making a fascist and anti-women government stronger,” she said.
Ahadi was pleased with the interior minister's decision to shutter the Islamic Center of Hamburg. She worked to secure the center's closure.
In 2023, German Iranians demanded that the German state government of Hesse shut down the pro-Iran regime Center for Islamic Culture in Frankfurt that honored IRGC's Qasem Soleimani.
Iran International reported, in May, on the growing pressure on Körber Foundation to sever ties with Mousavian and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In June, Iranian-Germans protested in front of Körber’s building in Hamburg.
Iranian activists in Germany say that Mousavian is "an extension of the antisemitic regime, acting as its loyal lobbyist in the US through the support of the Körber Foundation in Germany.”
When asked about the scandal-plagued Körber Foundation, the German interior ministry spokesman told Iran International "As a matter of principle, we do not comment on matters of public foundations. The Körber Foundation is not an object of observation of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution." Germany's domestic intelligence agency is called the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Multiple Iran International press queries sent to the Körber Foundation and its parent company, Körber AG, were not returned. Körber was founded by the former Nazi, Kurt Adolf Körber (1909-1992), who exploited concentration camp victims to advance the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler’s war goals.
During a live broadcast on Tehran's possible response on Friday night, an Iranian state TV anchor declared, "In the coming hours, the world will witness extraordinary scenes and significant developments."
Nour News, a media outlet close to Iran's Supreme National Security Council, posted on its X social media account near midnight on Friday, using the hashtags #RevengeForGuest and #IsmailHaniyeh: "A punitive operation against the Israeli regime will be carried out at a determined time and manner."
The X account of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has pinned a tweet that says, "The fall of the Zionist regime [Israel] is inevitable."
This type of psychological warfare, prevalent in Iranian media since Haniyeh's death, suggests there would be a significant response to the killing of Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday in Tehran, as well as the killing of Tehran-backed Hezbollah's senior military commander, Fuad Shukr in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb a day earlier.
Despite the absence of comprehensive or transparent reports from Iranian domestic media and official sources regarding the circumstances of Ismail Haniyeh's death, there is a concerted effort to vociferously proclaim imminent retribution, asserting that an Iranian assault on Israel is inevitable within the coming hours and days.
The Iranian media, engaging in strategic ambiguity regarding the timing, emphasizes that the forthcoming action will surpass the previous offensive in scale and impact.
On April 13, Iran initiated a significant offensive, launching a barrage of over 300 missiles and drones at Israel, citing retaliation for Israel's purportedly lethal strike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1.
While almost all these projectiles were intercepted and neutralized, hardline factions assert that this forthcoming assault will be markedly more severe.
On Saturday, Kayhan, the most hardline newspaper in Tehran, stated, "Iran has advanced significantly over the past five months, and the retribution against the Zionists will be more multifaceted, coordinated, and severe this time."
The paper, funded by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, reported that unlike Iran's April operation against Israel, which targeted only a few bases outside Israeli cities, the upcoming operation would target areas deep inside Israel, such as Tel Aviv and Haifa, strategic centers, and the residences of Israeli officials involved in killing Haniyeh. This assertion was made in Kayhan's Saturday editorial, managed by Khamenei's representative.
In Tehran's imminent retaliatory operation against Israel, the article added, long-range and precision missiles and drones will be among the options. However, unlike the April attack on Israel, the possibilities will likely not be limited to two or three types of missiles and drones launched from miles away and only from Iran.
Kayhan emphasized that in the upcoming operation, the Islamic Republic's military should consider "painful human casualties" in addition to causing strategic damage. According to Kayhan, Israeli ships traveling from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea will also be targeted with heavy attacks, presumably bu Iran's Houthi proxies in Yemen, and Israel's economic targets will not be immune to military strikes.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced on Friday that the US military will deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the Middle East. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved the deployment of additional Navy cruisers and destroyers, capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, to both the Middle East and Europe. Furthermore, an additional squadron of fighter jets will be dispatched to the Middle East.
The Pentagon indicated plans to enhance readiness for deploying more land-based ballistic missile defenses. This strategic move follows intensified US military deployments before Iran's April 13 attack on Israeli territory.
Analysts, however, caution that if Hezbollah joins forces with Iran, it could complicate interception efforts. The threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon, with its extensive arsenal and proximity to Israel, presents unique challenges for US efforts to intercept drones and missiles.
