German diplomat expelled from Iran

Iran has expelled a German diplomat for "undiplomatic" behavior, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

The expulsion comes after a media report claiming that Germany expelled an Iranian consular attache last July after he apparently attempted to acquire equipment that could be used for uranium enrichment. Both the Foreign Ministry in Berlin and Iran have declined to comment on the report, which cited no sources.

On Sunday, a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said she could only "confirm that a German diplomat has left Iran." The spokeswoman, who declined to elaborate, spoke on condition of anonymity because of ministry rules.

"Responsible authorities recognized that this person was engaging in undiplomatic behavior and has to leave Iran," ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters during his weekly briefing, without giving the diplomat's name or additional information.

The German weekly Der Spiegel, citing no sources, reported last month that an Iranian consular attache had been expelled last July. The diplomat, identified only as Mohraramali D., had contacted a specialist firm in Bavaria, apparently in hopes of buying a component that could be used in the uranium enrichment process, Der Spiegel reported.

Germany is among the countries negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program, which the U.S. and others fear intends to build atomic weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.

Along with its Western partners, Germany has criticized Iran for resisting international demands to suspend uranium enrichment — a process that can produce fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb.

"It remains a vital interest of the whole world community to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran — if necessary, with the further toughening of sanctions," Chancellor Angela Merkel wrote in an opinion piece for the German daily Handelsblatt published Dec. 28.

She has recently stressed the importance of reducing trade ties, noting that Germany has restricted export guarantees and its banks have moved to halt business with Iran.

The relationship between Germany and Iran has been strained at times since Iran's 1979 revolution.

The two were once major trading partners but relations were frozen after a German court ruled in 1997 that the 1992 shooting deaths of four Iranian Kurdish dissidents in Berlin had been ordered at the highest levels in Tehran. Two men convicted of the 1992 killings were released from prison in Germany last month.

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Associated Press Writer Geir Moulson contributed to this report from Berlin.