“The killing of Jamshid Sharmahd shows once again what kind of inhumane regime rules in Tehran: a regime that uses death against its youth, its own population and foreign nationals,” said Annalena Baerbock.

She added that Berlin had repeatedly made clear to Tehran “that the execution of a German national would have serious consequences”.

“This underlines the fact that no one is safe under the new government either,” she said in reference to the administration of president Masoud Pezeshkian, who was inaugurated in July.

Baerbock expressed her “heartfelt sympathy” for Sharmahd’s family, “with whom we have always been in close contact”.

She said that the German government had made strenuous representations in Sharmahd’s case, with the German embassy in Tehran working “tirelessly” on his behalf and high-ranking teams sent from Berlin on several occasions.

Sharmahd had been convicted of playing a role in a 2008 mosque bombing in the southern city of Shiraz, in which 14 people were killed and 300 wounded, allegations strongly rejected by his family.

His family have long maintained his innocence and say he was seized by Iranian authorities in August 2020 while travelling through the United Arab Emirates.

Baerbock said of Sharmahd’s treatment that he “was abducted from Dubai to Iran, held for years without a fair trial and has now been killed”.