(AP) German police raided 54 locations across the country on Thursday in an investigation of a Hamburg-based organization suspected of promoting the Iranian leadership’s ideology and possibly supporting activities of Hezbollah in Germany, the government said.
The Interior Ministry said the Islamic Center Hamburg, or IZH, has long been under observation by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. It said the activities of the group are aimed at spreading the “revolutionary concept” of Iran’s supreme leader which is suspected of violating Germany’s constitutional order.
Authorities are also looking into suspicions that it supports banned activities in Germany by Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, which has repeatedly traded fire with Israel across the Israel-Lebanon border since Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza last month.
