Iran's execution of dual national Jamshid Sharmahd, who had been held prisoner since 2020, has drawn condemnation from authorities in Germany and the United States.

The 69-year-old Iranian-born German citizen, who also held residency in the US, was one of several Iranian dissidents living abroad who were tricked or kidnapped back to the Middle Eastern nation after officials in Tehran began lashing out in the aftermath of the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The Iranian national judiciary reported Sharmahd's execution on Monday and accused him of being "under orders from masters in Western intelligence agencies, the United States and the child-killing Zionist regime" when allegedly plotting attacks in Iran.

Sharmahd was sentenced to death in 2023 after being accused of planning an attack on a mosque in 2008 that killed 14 people, including five women and a child and injured more than 200 others.

Iran also said Sharmahd committed the capital offence of "corruption on Earth" after disclosing "classified information" on missile sites operated by the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in 2017.

"Without a doubt, the divine promise regarding the supporters of terrorism will be fulfilled, and this is a definite promise," the judiciary said in announcing his execution.

Sharmahd was seized by Iranian authorities in 2020 while travelling through the United Arab Emirates, according to his family.

Tehran has long accused him of leading the Tondar group, which aims to topple the Islamic Republic and is classed as a terror organisation by the government in Tehran.

'The latest abhorrent act'

Diplomatic authorities in Germany and the United States have rallied against Iran in light of the news of his execution.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the killing "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".

"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.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded to Ms Baerbock online, labelling her remarks as "gaslighting".

"No terrorist enjoys impunity in Iran … A German passport does not provide impunity to anyone, let alone a terrorist criminal," Mr Araghchi said in a post on X.

"Enough with the gaslighting."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also condemned the execution, describing it as a "scandal" and saying: "Jamshid Sharmahd did not even receive the opportunity to defend himself against the charges at the trial."

Abram Paley from the US Office of the Special Envoy for Iran posted on X that the US government was investigating the reports of Sharmahd's execution.

"Sharmahd should never have been imprisoned in the first place," he said.

"His kidnapping and rendition, as well as sham trial and reports of torture, were reprehensible."

Last year, Germany expelled two Iranian diplomats after Tehran sentenced Sharmahd to death.

'Immediate and unmistakable grave consequences'

In the hours after Iran's announcement Sharmahd's daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, criticised both Germany and the US for failing to free him from captivity. 

In a statement posted to X, Ms Sharmahd said she had no proof that her father had been executed and called for his body to be immediately returned if he had so that his family could bury him according to his Zoroastrian religious customs.

"This must have immediate and unmistakable grave consequences for them now," she said.

Iran carries out the second-highest number of executions worldwide a year after China, according to human rights groups including Amnesty International.

Iran has executed at least 627 people this year, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights. Several other Europeans are still being held in Iran, including at least three French citizens.

In 2020, Iran executed exiled journalist Ruhollah Zam over his online work that helped inspire nationwide economic protests in 2017.

Three years later, Iran executed Iranian-Swedish dual national Farajollah Cha'ab, who had been accused of masterminding a 2018 attack on a military parade that killed at least 25 people and who also had been seized abroad in Türkiye. 

The same year, Iran executed former high-ranking defence ministry official and dual Iranian British national Ali Reza Akbari.