Iran confirms expulsion of German diplomat

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has expelled a German diplomat for "non-diplomatic activities", the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, in what may be retaliation for the expulsion of an Iranian diplomat from Germany in July.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini confirmed a German news agency report that a German diplomat had been ordered to leave Iran. Berlin said only that a diplomat had left Tehran.

"Those in charge recognized that non-diplomatic activities are being undertaken and announced that this diplomat should leave the soil of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Hosseini told a news conference.

Hosseini gave no further details and did not make clear if it was the diplomat who was responsible for the "non-diplomatic activities".

The German embassy in Tehran referred all queries to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.

The Hamburg-based weekly Der Spiegel reported in December that an Iranian official was forced to leave Germany last summer after he tried to acquire components for Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

German news agency DPA reported on Saturday that a German diplomat had had to leave Tehran and it was thought this was a result of the expulsion of the Iranian official from Germany.

Der Spiegel said the Iranian diplomat was expelled after contacting a firm in Bavaria to buy a systems control component which would be essential in the enrichment of uranium.

Iran denies it wants a nuclear bomb and says its atomic work is aimed at boosting civilian power generation.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran for failing to comply with demands to suspend uranium enrichment, a process the West believes Tehran is trying to master to enable it to build nuclear weapons.

A U.S. National Intelligence Estimate published last month said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

(Reporting by Hossein Jaseb; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Mary Gabriel)