Scope of Iran sabotage plot in Germany remains unclear

Dec 1, 2011, 20:34 GMT

Berlin - Allegations of an Iranian sabotage plot against US military bases on German soil grew murkier Thursday as a spokesman for the federal prosecutor general's office said there were no indications of any concrete plans.

The statements clashed with statements earlier in the day from Prosecutor General Harald Range, saying the allegations of an Iranian plot to attack US bases in Germany were under investigation.

Range's earlier comments seemed to confirm a report in the mass-circulation newspaper Bild that a German businessman was suspected of spying 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.

But the later statement left Germans wondering how concrete the evidence might be.

The alleged plot would have begun long before this week's flare-up in tension between Iran and Europe. Bild said police searched for evidence in a raid 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 was cooperating closely with German authorities.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters the German government was looking into the allegations and that he could not comment directly on an ongoing investigation.

'We take these allegations seriously,' he said. 'You know, Tehran has shown time and time again that it's - it doesn't respect its international obligations and responsibilities.'

He pointed to a disrupted plot earlier this year in which the Iranians allegedly planned to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

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

'It's necessary that our authorities investigate this 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.'

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