♪ Making friends ♫[LI] The Iranian regime has threatened Germany with "negative consequences" after Berlin banned Shia Islamic terrorist group Hezbollah from operating on its soil. German police raided several Hezbollah-linked mosques across the country and moved to freeze funds of the Iranian-sponsored terrorist outfit.
Angered by Germany’s anti-terrorism operation against Hezbollah, Tehran issued a thinly-veiled threat on Saturday. "The German government must face the negative consequences of its decision in the fight against real terrorist groups in the region," the Iranian Foreign Ministry warned.
While Hezbollah has been banned by the United States, Britain, and Israel. Germany, along with France and other European countries, had allowed the terrorist group to operate under the garb of its ’political’ wing. According to the German domestic intelligence agency (BfV), more than one thousand Hezbollah operatives are currently active in the country, often using German mosques to recruit and raise funds.
German weekly Der Spiegel reported Tehran’s threats on Friday:
Iran has responded to the ban on Hezbollah activities by [German] Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the ban in "sharpest terms." This [ban] displays a "complete disrespect towards the government and the people of Lebanon," it claimed. [...]
The regime in Tehran warned the [German] government of consequences. Hezbollah is closely linked to the Iranian leadership. "The German government must face the negative consequences of its decision in the fight against real terrorist groups in the region," Iranian Foreign Ministry declared. The ban disregards the "realities in West Asia" and is based solely on goals of the "propaganda machine of the Zionists and America’s confused regime," [Iran claimed].