Germany scales back Tehran embassy services as ambassador departs
Germany’s ambassador to Iran Markus Potzel announced he is ending his mission in Tehran for "personal reasons," and that the visa section is now operating at reduced capacity.
Germany’s ambassador to Iran Markus Potzel announced he is ending his mission in Tehran for "personal reasons," and that the visa section is now operating at reduced capacity.
Potzel said the embassy would reduce its staff, which will lead to stricter visa issuance for applicants inside Iran.
“I’ve seen many changes this year. Iran today is different from a year ago. I wish you all peace, stability, and the fulfillment of your dreams. I hope to return and see your aspirations fulfilled,” Potzel said.
The ambassador made the remarks in a farewell video on the German Embassy’s Instagram account, delivering a short message in Persian.
The announcement came one day after a group of Iranian visa applicants protested outside the German Embassy in Tehran, denouncing the embassy’s refusal to issue visas.
On August 13, more than 550 individuals — including activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and victims of eye injuries from the Woman, Life, Freedom movement — wrote to the German government urging the immediate resumption of visa processing for at-risk political and civil activists, trade unionists, journalists, and injured victims.
Several embassies and consulates in Iran suspended services in June during the 12-day war with Israel.
Citing security concerns, the German Embassy relocated some consular staff to other countries in the region but continues to provide limited services in Iran.
Austria on Thursday announced the suspension of all consular services in Iran until further notice.
“We are working to re-establish the conditions which would allow us to resume consular services at the Embassy in Tehran,” Alena Baur, deputy spokesperson for the Austrian foreign ministry in Vienna, told Iran International via email.
“As of today, there is no concrete indication when consular services will resume,” Baur said.
The embassies of Portugal, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom also suspended their activities in June due to Israel’s military campaign against Iran but have since resumed operations.
The Czech Embassy also halted services in June and has not yet resumed, though it announced plans to gradually restart operations in September.
The closure of foreign embassies in Tehran during and after the 12-day war left between 3,000 and 4,000 Iranian passports stuck in diplomatic missions, stranding visa applicants, Iranian officials said earlier this month.
“Suspending enrichment is the American prescription in this statement,” Khatami told worshippers at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla, according to state media.
He added: “Nuclear energy is the energy of the future, and people have repeatedly said nuclear energy is the nation’s inalienable right.”
Khatami also rejected the manifesto’s suggestion of direct talks with Washington, saying: “How can we negotiate with America, which martyred General Soleimani, attacked our country, violated all international agreements, and struck our nuclear centers?”
Iran’s Reform Front has urged sweeping political and foreign policy changes, including a temporary suspension of uranium enrichment, release of political prisoners, and direct negotiations with Washington in return for sanctions relief. The reformist push has drawn fierce backlash from conservatives.
“The Iranian people will never surrender to America — hayhat minna al-dhilla,” he said, invoking a famous phrase from Shi’ite Islam Imam Hussein’s sermon on the day of Ashura, which means ‘far be it from us to accept humiliation.’ The expression, rooted in Hussein’s rejection of submission to Ibn Ziyad in 680 AD, has come to symbolize choosing death with dignity over life in disgrace.
Citing remarks by Ali Khamenei last year, Khatami said: “The Leader has already said negotiations with America are neither rational nor honorable. This statement recommends dishonor, and the Iranian nation will not accept such a humiliating recipe.”
Khatami further denounced the reformist document as divisive, calling it a “black letter that translates Netanyahu’s words into Persian.”
He argued that Iranians had voted 47 times since the 1979 revolution and dismissed claims of repression of dissent, insisting that media and social networks were active and free.
A recent survey conducted by a Netherlands-based institute found that the majority of Iranians would vote for either a regime change or a structural transition away from the Islamic Republic.
Fars News Agency said the restrictions were imposed from midnight until 6 a.m. local time, covering parts of Zanjan, Hamedan, Arak, Yasuj, Iran’s western borders, and airspace over the western Persian Gulf.
Several domestic outlets reported that the exercise was carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and involved both missile and drone operations across several regions.
The move came as regional media reported heightened security. Al-Hadath television said two planes — one Iraqi and one Iranian — due to depart Baghdad for Tehran were prevented from taking off during the restrictions. No official explanation was given.
Iran has issued separate notices to airmen (NOTAMs) in recent weeks closing parts of eastern provinces, including North, Razavi and South Khorasan, for live-fire drills until the end of summer.
Earlier this week, Iran’s navy test-fired Nasir, Qadir, and Ghader cruise missiles during large-scale drills in the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean, state media said.
The exercises, called Sustainable Power 1404, involved launches from coastal batteries and warships including the Genaveh missile boat and Sabalan destroyer. Officials said the radar-evading, high-precision missiles struck their targets at sea.
The drills came a month after joint Iran-Russia naval maneuvers in the Caspian Sea -- Casarex 2025.
Mohammad-Hassan Ghadiri Abyaneh, Iran’s former envoy to Australia, said: “The assassination of members of the Assembly of Experts is part of Israel’s plan, and the individual favored by the enemies to head the system is Hassan Rouhani.”
The Assembly of Experts is an 88-member clerical body empowered to appoint Iran’s Supreme Leader. Its members, elected for eight-year terms, are chosen from candidates vetted by the Guardian Council, whose members are themselves appointed directly or indirectly by the Supreme Leader.
Abyaneh added, “They want to put someone like Rouhani at the top of the system in order to fragment Iran, and the fragmentation of Iran is among Rouhani’s goals.”
He also accused reformist politician Behzad Nabavi of advising President Masoud Pezeshkian to disrupt the economy deliberately to create leverage for negotiations with the United States.
He did not present any evidence for his claims.
His comments come as Rouhani and Iran’s Reform Front have urged sweeping political and foreign policy changes, including a temporary suspension of uranium enrichment, release of political prisoners, and direct negotiations with Washington in return for sanctions relief.
Rouhani said earlier in the month, “There is no way to save the country except for all of us to become servants of the people — to recognize that sovereignty belongs to the people.”
The reformist push has drawn fierce backlash from conservatives, with some likening it to a 2003 reformist manifesto that ended in arrests and bans.
Tasnim, an outlet linked to Iran’s Guards, warned that reformists’ calls for sweeping policy changes resembled a “Gorbachev moment,” arguing such concessions to foreign narratives risk weakening national interests and repeating mistakes that led to the Soviet Union’s collapse.
European powers have warned that unless Tehran resumes nuclear talks by the end of August, they are prepared to trigger the UN’s sanctions “snapback” mechanism, which could restore Security Council penalties.
