Iran may be involved in attacks on Nordic Israeli embassies, Swedish security services say

By Charles Szumski

(EurActiv) — Iran’s involvement in the attacks on the Israeli embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen earlier this week is an “objective hypothesis”, the Swedish Security Service’s chief of operations, Fredrik Hallström, has said.

The target selection and modus operandi suggest Tehran’s involvement in the shooting at the Israeli embassy in Stockholm on Tuesday evening (October 1), the official said.

The same goes for the hand grenade explosions near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen on Wednesday morning (October 3).

“It is similar to what happened on previous occasions,” Hallström said, adding that the targets were Israeli and the modus operandi relied on the use of gang criminals.

These are preliminary assumptions, not factual knowledge, Hallström added.

Meanwhile, Danish and Swedish police suspect that the Swedish criminal network Foxtrot, led by Iranian-born Rawa Majid, is behind the attacks in Stockholm and Copenhagen on behalf of Iran, Swedish media report.

Swedish security services have previously stated that Iran is using criminals in Sweden to carry out acts of violence, including against Jewish and Israeli interests.

These explosions come against a tense geopolitical backdrop in the Middle East, with Iran firing hundreds of missiles into Israel on Tuesday evening in response to Israel’s military operation in southern Lebanon.

“The unrest in the world and the escalation in the Middle East are making themselves felt again and continue to affect Swedish security,” Hallström noted.

No one has yet been arrested in the shooting at the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, but two Swedish citizens aged 16 and 19 with possible links to criminal gangs have been arrested in Denmark on suspicion of the attack.

Swedish police speculate that one of the suspects first shot at the Israeli embassy in Stockholm and then boarded a train south on a mission to attack the embassy in Copenhagen, Swedish media report.SvDreads.

Officially, however, the police do not want to say whether there is a connection between the attacks.

“We want to create the best possible conditions so that the research can achieve its goal and be successful. When it is appropriate to the state of the investigation, we will release those details,” said Johan Olsson, head of the police’s National Operations Department (NOA). , the press said on Thursday.

The Stockholm shooting is being investigated for serious weapons offences, causing danger to others, serious unlawful threats and vandalism.