The German government banned an Islamic organization that allegedly supported Iran's terrorist organizations on Wednesday. According to the Associated Press, the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) was "accused of being an 'outpost' of Iran’s theocracy, promoting the ideology of its leadership and supporting Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group."

German authorities raided 53 of the organization's properties around the country on Wednesday. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said evidence gathered from a November search including 5 sub-organizations “confirmed the serious suspicions to such a degree that we ordered the ban today" and that IZH "promotes an Islamist-extremist, totalitarian ideology in Germany,” while it and its sub-organizations “also support the terrorists of Hezbollah and spread aggressive antisemitism."
 

Her ministry also said that “as the direct representative of Iran’s 'Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution,' the IZH disseminates the ideology of the Islamic Revolution in an aggressive and militant way and seeks to bring about such a revolution in the Federal Republic of Germany."

Germany's domestic intelligence agency had additionally stated in its 2023 annual report that the IZH was "Iran's most important representative in Germany beside the country's embassy." It was founded in 1962, but many have called for it to be banned for years.

According to the Interior Ministry, 4 Shiite mosques in Germany will close and IZH's assets are to be confiscated. It stated that "investigations have confirmed without a doubt that the IZH’s activities are not simply religious in nature" and that the organization's activities oppose Germany's constitutional order. The IZH has stated that it "condemns every form of violence and extremism and has always advocated peace, tolerance and interreligious dialogue."