GERMAN authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of Iranian Intelligence Minister, Mr Ali Fallahiyan, in connection with the 1992 murder of exiled Kurdish leaders in Berlin.
"At the request of the federal prosecutor, the investigating magistrate of the Federal Court of Justice has issued a warrant for the arrest of the Iranian Minister for Intelligence and Security Affairs, Ali Fallahiyan, on suspicion of four counts of murder and of attempted murder," federal prosecutors said in a statement.
The warrant comes at an embarrassing time for Bonn, whose policy of maintaining a "critical dialogue" with Tehran has come under fire amid charges from Israel and the US that Iran backed suicide bombings by Islamic militants in Israel.
German prosecutors have for months been investigating possible links between Mr Fallahiyan and the killing of three leaders of the Iranian Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK-I) and their translator in Berlin's Mykonos restaurant. A fifth person was seriously wounded by gunfire.
The inquiry was prompted by allegations that Tehran ordered five suspected agents to carry out the attack, in which the DPK-I's secretary general and its chief representatives in Europe and Germany died. The five suspects, Mr Kazem Darabi, an Iranian, and four Lebanese, are now on trial in Berlin for murder.
Evidence emerging at their trial reinforced strong suspicion that Mr Fallahiyan's ministry directed the attack, the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karslruhe said.
"The suspect has been head of the ministry since 1989 and said in an interview with Iranian television a few weeks before the attack that his agency was targeting the murder victims' party and announced it would continue to pursue them in Iran and abroad," it said, adding that the inquiry was continuing.
Tehran denies that Mr Fallahiyan masterminded the killings.