The trial in the Hamburg Higher Regional Court began on Friday of two men who were arrested last year for allegedly participating in an Iranian-backed plot to murder the head of the country’s largest Jewish organization and three other targets.

One suspect, identified only as Ali S. under German privacy laws, was arrested in Denmark in June 2025. An alleged accomplice, Afghan national Tawab M., was arrested in Denmark in November. Prosecutors filed indictments against both men in Hamburg state court on May 7.

Ali S. was charged with acting as an agent for a foreign intelligence service, engaging in sabotage-related espionage and attempted participation in murder and arson. Tawab M. was charged with attempted complicity in murder.

According to prosecutors, Ali S. worked for the intelligence arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and maintained close contact with the IRGC’s Quds Force, which oversees overseas operations. Investigators said he was tasked in early 2025 with gathering intelligence on Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany; Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society and a former Bundestag member from the left-wing Green Party; and two Jewish grocers in Berlin.

Ali S. was under around-the-clock surveillance by officers of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Friday, citing reports that came up during the suspects’ first court appearance.

In their surveillance report, the officers noted that in early June, Ali S. set off in his Nissan Qashqai toward the headquarters of the German-Israeli Society, using an “aggressive driving style,” running red lights. Once there, he allegedly took pictures of the German-Israeli Society’s building with his cell phone.

“All this served for the preparation of assassination and arson attacks in Germany,” prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Ali S. scouted locations in Berlin and sought accomplices to carry out the attacks. By May 2025, he was in contact with Tawab M., who allegedly offered to procure a weapon for an unidentified third person tasked with killing Beck. German authorities said Tawab M. had previously been involved in acquiring weapons and explosive-device components in Denmark.

Following the arrest of Ali S., the German Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador in Berlin. The Iranian embassy denied the allegations, calling them “unfounded and dangerous.”

The case comes amid heightened concern in Europe over Iranian operations targeting Jewish and Israeli interests. In October 2024, explosions were reported near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen, days after a shooting attack near the Israeli embassy in Stockholm that Swedish intelligence officials said may have been linked to Iran.

German authorities also arrested a Lebanese national in November 2025 on suspicion of belonging to a Hamas cell plotting attacks on Jewish or Israeli targets in Europe.

Last week, a report showed that the number of antisemitic incidents documented in Germany in 2025 rose slightly from the previous year to a record 8,725. “The number of incidents has remained consistently high since Oct. 7, 2023, and continues to affect the lives of Jewish people,” the report said, adding that “Israel-related antisemitism” accounted for 68% of all incidents.

The 2025 tally, up by 98 incidents from 2024, included 178 assaults and 257 cases involving threats, the Berlin-based Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS), which published the report, said in its annual report. The 2022 tally stood at 2,480 incidents.