TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday summoned Germany’s ambassador to Tehran, accusing Berlin of levelling “baseless political allegations” against the Islamic republic.

The move to summon ambassador Axel Dittmann was in retaliation for Germany’s own decision to summon the Iranian ambassador on Monday over accusations that Tehran was involved in a plot to assassinate pro-Israel public figures.

“Levelling security-related accusations against Iran has long been a tactic employed by the Zionist regime and certain Western nations,” Iran’s foreign ministry said, in a statement carried by official news agency IRNA.

“Attempting to provide a judicial face to baseless political claims not only fails to lend any credibility to such allegations but also undermines the standing of the German judiciary itself,” the statement added.

A Hamburg court on Thursday convicted a Danish national and an Afghan national for planning to target the president of Germany’s main group representing the Jewish community and the head of the German-Israeli society.

The German foreign ministry said on X the Iranian ambassador had been summoned, adding Tehran would not be allowed to “threaten our free society.”

“The malicious assassination attempts... will have legal consequences,” it added.

“We do not tolerate attacks on Jewish life and on those who defend it — anywhere, and certainly not in Germany.”

The Danish man, partially identified as Ali Hassan S., was jailed for eight and a half years.

The Afghan man, who was recruited as his accomplice, was jailed for four and a half years.

The two men were convicted in Germany after being arrested in Denmark last year and extradited.

Sentencing them, the judge said they were guilty of “terrorist activities orchestrated by Iran.”

When the two men were charged, the Iranian embassy in Berlin released a statement rejecting what it called “unfounded allegations made at the behest of Iran’s enemies.”