German intelligence officials have privately warned that the risk of Iran-linked attacks in Germany is more serious than the government has publicly acknowledged, according to senior German officials cited by the New York Times.
The officials said state intelligence agencies had pushed political leaders to issue stronger public warnings about possible attacks linked to the Islamic Republic.
A spokesman for Germany’s interior ministry said evidence of Iranian plots in Germany “has increased” during the conflict and that authorities were investigating planned Iranian operations, including against critics of Tehran living in Germany.
Senior officials also told the newspaper that European intelligence agencies had identified around 50 suspected plots linked to Iran-connected underground groups operating in Germany before the war began.
German investigators were assessing whether Iranian proxies were involved in an attack last month on an Israeli restaurant in Munich in which assailants smashed windows and threw explosive devices into the building, according to the report.
The newspaper also cited German officials as saying Iranian intelligence officers threatened and assaulted some anti-government protesters during a large demonstration in Munich earlier this year.
German officials said many of Iran’s most prominent targets in Germany were Jewish institutions, with two believed to be the subject of current plots by Iran’s leadership, according to the New York Times.
The report also said German investigators were assessing whether Iranian proxies were behind an after-hours attack last month on an Israeli restaurant in Munich, where assailants smashed windows and threw explosive devices inside.
German intelligence services have detected a growing connection between Iranian agents and organized crime in recent years, including links to biker gangs and human traffickers, officials told the newspaper.
Two officials said Iranian agents had at times approached European criminals with Iranian roots, whom they viewed as easier to recruit.