Iran has expelled a German diplomat for alleged "non-diplomatic activities", the Iranian foreign ministry said today, in what may be retaliation for the expulsion of an Iranian diplomat from Germany in July.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini confirmed a German news agency report that a German diplomat had been ordered to leave Iran. Berlin said only that a diplomat had left Tehran.
"Those in charge recognised that non-diplomatic activities are being undertaken and announced that this diplomat should leave the soil of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Hosseini told a news conference.
Hosseini gave no further details and did not make clear if it was the diplomat who was responsible for the "non-diplomatic activities".
The German embassy in Tehran referred all queries to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.
The Hamburg-based weekly Der Spiegel reported in December that an Iranian official was forced to leave Germany last summer after he tried to acquire components for Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
Iran denies it wants a nuclear bomb and says its atomic work is aimed at boosting civilian power generation.