BONN - The German Foreign Minister, Mr Klaus Kinkel, appealed yesterday for calm in Germany and other European states after a diplomatic row sparked by a Berlin court verdict that said Iran had ordered the assassinations of Kurdish dissidents.
Mr Kinkel said Bonn was taking seriously threats by a radical Islamic group in Iran to unleash suicide attacks against Germany, but assured his compatriots that Tehran could be taken at its word that they would come to no harm.
"We must keep calm and realise this important country and the Iranian people do not deserve to have relations cut off completely," Mr Kinkel told Hesse Radio. "We want to consider carefully how to reshape our relations [with Iran] and that's not something we can achieve overnight," he said.
A Berlin court two weeks ago jailed an Iranian and three Lebanese for the murder of four Kurdish dissidents and accused Tehran of ordering the killings. The court verdict prompted an official complaint from Iran and unleashed a wave of protest in Tehran, where thousands took to the streets.