Sweden faces an escalating security threat from Iran, which has intensified its intelligence activities and use of criminal networks within the country, the Swedish Security Police (SAPO) warned on Tuesday.
In its annual threat assessment, SAPO highlighted Iran’s efforts to monitor and suppress opposition movements abroad, exploit vulnerabilities within the Iranian diaspora, and acquire sensitive technology to circumvent sanctions.
"Iran's primary objective is to secure and strengthen its regime, closely linked to protecting the country from perceived external threats and circumventing sanctions," SAPO's statement said.
"These priorities influence the security-threatening activities carried out by Iranian security and intelligence services against Sweden."
SAPO reported increased Iranian activities in Sweden over the past year, including efforts to pressure opposition figures and their families.
Iranian intelligence services have reportedly used criminal networks to conduct violent acts targeting Israeli interests and groups perceived as threats.
"The use of criminal actors is not new or unique to Iran but has occurred to a greater extent over the past year, with notably younger actors involved during 2024," SAPO added.
Sweden has also been a target for Iran’s attempts to acquire advanced technology and knowledge to bypass international sanctions. SAPO warned that Iran is actively seeking dual-use products, including those that could support its weapons programs.
"Iran is heavily focused on acquiring knowledge and products for the development of weapons of mass destruction or delivery systems," the report said. "This acquisition spans several industries. For instance, machinery intended for civilian use can also be employed in the development of such weapons."
The warning comes amid heightened tensions between Sweden and Iran. Last month, the Swedish government accused Tehran of using a Shiite Muslim mosque in Stockholm to spy on Sweden and the Iranian diaspora there.
"There is a tangible risk that the security situation can deteriorate further and that can occur in a way that is hard to predict," said Charlotte von Essen, head of the security police.
SAPO’s assessment underscores the growing threat posed by Iranian intelligence activities and foreign influence operations in Sweden, as authorities work to counter hybrid threats from hostile state actors which also include Russia and China.
Last year, the relationship between the two countries reached a diplomatic crisis forcing a prisoner swap of Swedish diplomat Johan Floderus and a second Swedish citizen, Saeed Azizi, for an Iranian convicted in Stockholm of committing war crimes over his part in 1988 mass executions in the Islamic Republic.
Mohsen Rafiqdoost, a former bodyguard of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and an architect of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), made the comments in a recently surfaced video interview.
A bank account in Frankfurt was used to channel money for covert operations abroad, Rafiqdoost said, including for the killing of a former Iranian military commander General Gholam-Ali Oveisi in Paris in 1984.
“We had an account under the name KM,” he said in the video published Monday by Abdollah Abdi, the editor of independent outlet Abdi Media. “The money in that account was used for actions outside the country that could not be done with ordinary funds.”
He also linked the account to proceeds from arms sales during the Iran-Iraq war, recalling how a weapons purchase in Spain left a surplus of $10,000. “That was the beginning of moving funds into that account,” he said.
Rafiqdoost’s statements follow remarks he made on Saturday to the Iranian site Didban Iran, where he said he oversaw multiple assassination operations targeting dissidents. He named several figures killed in Europe, including Shapour Bakhtiar, the last prime minister under the Shah, and Fereydoun Farrokhzad, a singer and outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic.
“The Basque separatist group in Spain carried out these assassinations for us. We paid them, and they conducted the killings on our behalf,” he said.
Rafiqdoost's office disavowed the interviews, chalking the reported comments up to mental deficiencies after surgery and media distortions.
"Mr. Rafiqdoost underwent brain surgery in past years, which resulted in extensive complications and may have affected his recollection of certain memories and names. Therefore, his statements are not legally or historically reliable," it said in a statement.
"Media judgments regarding his statements are inaccurate. Only the official narrative of the events in question can be considered valid."
Khomeini critic silenced
US-based former Iranian ambassador to Germany Hossein Mousavian expressed surprise at the remarks, saying in a post on X that he had believed for decades that Farrokhzad’s killing was the work of Iranian opposition groups.
“After 32 years, for the first time, I learned the facts of the case from Mr. Rafiqdoust’s interview,” added Mousavian, now at Princeton University, New Jersey.
Farrokhzad was murdered in 1992 in Bonn, Germany. At the time, Iranian officials denied involvement, while reports suggested a professional-style hit.
German police found Farrokhzad's body in the kitchen of his apartment. A switchblade had been driven into his right shoulder from behind, and a longer kitchen knife was lodged in his mouth.
In exile, Farrokhzad had become a fierce and outspoken critic of Iran's clerical rulers. He repeatedly mocked Khomeini, portraying him as an illiterate, superstitious figure with sexual fixations in his writings.
Farrokhzad’s murder is often considered part of the so-called Chain Murders in Iran—an series of assassinations that saw numerous dissident intellectuals and activists either disappear or be killed between 1986 and 1998.
The Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence later admitted responsibility for some of the killings.
Mousavian said the Iranian embassy had even facilitated talks for Farrokhzad’s possible return to Iran.
“My colleagues and I at the embassy worked diligently for several months with full capacity, sincerity, and conviction to obtain the approval of the relevant Iranian authorities for his return and security,” he wrote.
Human rights organizations have long accused Tehran of orchestrating assassinations abroad. In a report published in December, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center detailed four decades of extrajudicial killings tied to the Islamic Republic.