Iranian police have shut down Germany’s Das Deutsche Sprachinstitut Teheran (DSIT) -- the German Language Institute Tehran -- for allegedly “violating the country’s laws,” prompting Berlin to summon Iran's ambassador.
In a post on X, the Mizan news agency of Iran’s judiciary said on August 20 that two branches of “illegal centers affiliated with the German government” had been shut down for “committing several illegal actions and extensive financial violations.”
It added that the judiciary had "received reports of violations by other centers linked to Germany" without elaborating.
Formerly called the Goethe Institute, the cultural center is managed by the Germany Embassy in the Iranian capital.
"We condemn Iranian security authorities' treatment of that German language institute in Tehran," the Foreign Ministry in Berlin said, noting that the Iranian ambassador had been summoned.
Prior to Mizan’s post, an informed source told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that police officers had shuttered the institute’s branches in uptown Tehran on August 20, confirming earlier claims on social media.
The move comes after Germany last month banned the Islamic Center Hamburg, or IZH, an Iran-linked organization that it said "promotes an Islamist-extremist, totalitarian ideology in Germany."
The German authorities also shut down five IZH suborganizations, saying that they "also support the terrorists of Hizballah and spread aggressive antisemitism,” referring to Iran’s Lebanon-based ally that has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States.
Speaking to Radio Farda, a former DSIT student said the closure was a “sad” development because the institute served as a “second home” for people who wanted to learn German in an environment “more open” than Iranian universities.
They said most people who studied at the institute sought to migrate to continue their studies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Now, those looking to learn German have to pay more to study at less reputable institutes and travel abroad to take an accredited German language exam.
Many people immediately expressed concerns about what the shuttering of the institute would mean for their scheduled language exams.
Photos shared on the social media platform showed several police cars parked outside premises of the cultural institute. Police officers were also seen standing under the institute’s torn-down signboard.
The Goethe Institute opened its first branch in Iran in 1958 but its cultural activities were severely restricted following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, resulting in its closure in 1987.
The institute resumed operations in 1995 under a new name -- DSIT -- but it continued to be referred to locally as Goethe Institute.