ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The government of Tehran has strongly criticized a decision by the German authorities to close down all three Iranian consulates in the country, a move made by Berlin in response to the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-Iranian dual national.

Sharmahd, 69, who had been residing in the US and was abducted in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian security forces, was executed on Monday on terror charges. 

Berlin’s response was an “irrational decision… that cannot be justified,” said the Iranian Foreign Ministry, adding they had already summoned German Ambassador to Tehran Markus Potzel to relay Iran’s “strong protest,” before being recalled to Germany for consultations. 

"The German government's decision to close these centers deliberately deprives Iranians of the benefit of consular facilities and services," the foreign ministry statement said.

It warned that "Germany's unconstructive and confrontational approach is a major miscalculation, and the German government will be responsible for its consequences".

Earlier on Thursday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced they would shut Iran’s consulates in Munich, Frankfurt, and Hamburg, leaving Iran with its embassy in Berlin only. 

"We have repeatedly and unequivocally made it clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences," Baerbock said in a televised speech.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi strongly pushed back against Baerbock’s protests, saying: “A German passport does not provide impunity to anyone, let alone a terrorist criminal.”

Sharmahd, 69, had been sentenced to death in February 2023 for the capital offense of "corruption on Earth", a sentence later confirmed by Iran's Supreme Court. The Iranian government had convicted him of involvement in a 2008 mosque bombing in the southern city of Shiraz, in which 14 people were killed and 300 wounded.

On numerous occasions, his family had said that Sharmahd was innocent.