Iran summoned the German ambassador on Thursday over disagreements over the situation in the Middle East, which continues to escalate.
In addition to the new ambassador Markus Potzel in Tehran, the head of the Austrian mission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also summoned separately, state news agency IRNA reported.
Summoning an ambassador is considered a strong diplomatic measure.
The move comes after Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin on Wednesday in response to Iran’s attack on Israel.
The ambassador was out of town, so the embassy’s chargé d’affaires was informed that the German government condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms.
On Tuesday, Iran fired missiles at Israel in an attack it said was in response to the killings of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israel intercepted most of the missiles, aided by the US.
The attack came hours after Israel launched a ground operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
The Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip are part of the so-called Axis of Resistance, a network supported by Iranian leaders in the fight against Israel.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented attacks on October 7, has been accompanied by nearly a year of cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
However, the situation escalated dramatically when Israel launched a massive air campaign on targets across Lebanon, aiming to push back Hezbollah to allow the return of tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern Israel near the border.
