In a statement late on Friday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the German government’s stance in backing the US’ beastly, unilateral, and internationally unlawful measures as some kind of collaboration in such courses of action.”
“Such comments show Berlin’s distance from the realities of the region, and put the country, intentionally or unintentionally, in the same line with the US government’s terrorism,” he added.
The United States forces assassinated General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s pro-government Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) — better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi — in an attack at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday. The Pentagon said in a statement that US President Donald Trump had ordered the attack.
General Soleimani was among the key figures in the fight against terrorism in Syria and Iraq in the past several years.
A German government spokeswoman said that the US assault was a reaction to military provocations by the Islamic Republic.
“The American action was a reaction to a series of military provocations for which Iran is responsible,” Ulrike Demmer said during a press conference on Friday, Reuters reported.
“We also see with great concern Iran’s activities in the region. We stand before a dangerous escalation,” she said, claiming that Germany would work to de-escalate the situation.
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