German authorities searched premises linked to 10 suspected Iranian spies following extensive investigations by the country's domestic intelligence agency, prosecutors said Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Federal Prosecutors Office said the raids took place early Tuesday at private homes and offices across Germany.
"We believe the suspects spied on institutions and persons in Germany at the behest of an intelligence unit associated with Iran," spokesman Stefan Biehl said.
He declined to comment on a report by German magazine Focus that the suspects were members of Iran's Quds Force, a special Revolutionary Guards unit responsible for extraterritorial operations, that were spying on Israelis in Germany.
The investigation was prompted by a tip from Germany's domestic intelligence service, said Biehl, adding that no arrests have been made so far.
Germany's Interior Ministry referred questions about the raids to federal prosecutors.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Israeli Embassy in Berlin said the raids were proof of "just how active the Iranian regime is in Europe and in Germany."
"What are [Iranian] President [Hassan] Rouhani and Foreign Minister [Mohammad Javad] Zarif hiding behind their smiles? Hostile acts on European soil," the statement said. "Iran [is working toward] its stated goal of destroying Israel. It sent the terrorists who destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Germany, it tests ballistic missiles that say 'Destroy Israel' and plans actions against Israel's friends and Israelis in Germany."
Last month, the German government protested to the Iranian ambassador following the conviction of an Iranian agent for spying. The Pakistani man, a Quds Force member, was convicted in Berlin last year of espionage and sentenced to more than four years in prison. His targets included Reinhold Robbe, who headed the German-Israeli Association.
Germany's Foreign Ministry said Iranian ambassador Ali Majedi was summoned just before Christmas and told that "spying on people and institutions with a particular relationship to the state of Israel on German soil is a blatant violation of German law."
