LEAD: Germany uncovers alleged Iranian sabotage plot

Dec 1, 2011, 17:55 GMT

Berlin - An alleged Iranian plot to attack US bases on German soil is being investigated in Germany, Prosecutor General Harald Range said in Karlsruhe on Thursday.

He confirmed a report in the mass-circulation newspaper Bild that a German businessman was suspected of espionage for the purpose of sabotage. The businessman was alleged to have secretly met with Iranian diplomats posted to Berlin, the newspaper said.

'We have begun an investigation and are carrying out operative measures,' Range said.

The alleged plot began long before this week's flare-up in tension between Iran and the European Union. Bild said police conducted a raid in search of evidence on November 2.

The US embassy in Berlin declined comment, while a spokesman for the US military headquarters in Europe in Stuttgart said only that the military were in close cooperation with German authorities.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, in Brussels for talks, called the revelations 'grave.'

'It's necessary that our authorities for this investigate it thoroughly,' he said.

Bild speculated that Iranian agents were preparing to attack US airbases in Germany to disrupt airborne logistics operations if the United States took part in any kind of attack on Iran, which the West suspects of making nuclear weapons.

The main US transport base in Germany is at Ramstein in the west of Germany.

Joerg Ziercke, chief of the federal police service, said, 'We are investigating, but at the same time we can rule out that there is any immediate danger.'

Read more about Iran