Status: 03/01/2023 11:00 a.m
Iran has declared two German diplomats undesirable and expelled them from the country. The move was justified by interference in the country’s internal affairs. The measure is apparently a reaction to the expulsion of Iranian diplomats.
In retaliation for the expulsion of two Iranian diplomats from Germany, the government in Tehran has now expelled two German diplomats from the country. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said the two German diplomats would be declared undesirables because of “the German government’s intervention in internal and legal affairs” in Iran. It is not yet known which diplomats are involved.
“The Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador and informed him of the decision,” said ministry spokesman Kanaani, according to a report by the Mehr news agency. Iran’s foreign policy is based on respectful cooperation with other states. If this is not based on reciprocity, Tehran will be forced to raise other sides.
Response to expulsion of Iranian diplomats
The Foreign Office in Berlin had expelled two employees of the Iranian embassy last week and summoned the chargé d’affaires. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was reacting to the death sentence imposed by an Iranian court on the German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd.
The 67-year-old activist and software developer was convicted of “corruption on earth” in the Islamic Republic. Iran has accused Sharmahd of membership in a pro-monarchy group blamed for a deadly 2008 bombing. The judgment can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
What does “persona non grata” mean?
A “persona non grata” is an “undesirable person”. If a diplomat or consular officer is declared as such by a host country, he is no longer welcome or is not allowed to enter the country. If it is a question of a diplomat working in the host country, his work is terminated by the corresponding notification to the home country. This in turn is obliged under international law to revoke the “persona non grata”.
The declaration of “undesirable person” is associated with a specific departure period. The rights and duties of diplomats and consular officers are regulated by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCC). According to this, the most important prerogative is the immunity of a diplomat. However, if the host country believes that he violates a local law or an obligation under the Vienna Conventions, he can be declared “persona non grata,” according to the Foreign Office’s website.
The federal government used this tool on December 4, 2019, when it declared two employees of the Russian embassy in Berlin to be undesirable persons. The move is related to the murder of a Georgian in Berlin. The traces lead to Russia.