Sweden says Iran using Swedish gangs to target Israel

Iran is recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs, some of them children, as proxies to commit “acts of violence” against Israel and other states and groups in Sweden that Tehran considers a threat, Sweden’s intelligence agency said on May 30.

Iran is recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs, some of them children, as proxies to commit "acts of violence" against Israel and other states and groups in Sweden that Tehran considers a threat, Sweden's intelligence agency said on May 30.

The announcement came two weeks after nighttime gunfire was reported outside Israel's embassy in Stockholm and three months after police found an unexploded grenade lying on the grounds of the Israeli compound.

"The Swedish Security Police notes that the Iranian regime is using criminal networks in Sweden to carry out acts of violence against other states, groups or people in Sweden that it considers a threat," the intelligence service, commonly known as Sapo, said in a statement.

It cited in particular "Israeli and Jewish interests, targets and operations in Sweden".

"Iran has previously used violence in other countries in Europe in a bid to silence critical voices and perceived threats against its regime," it said.

"Our assessment is that this is a regional conflict that has spread globally and now also includes Sweden as an arena for this conflict," the head of Sapo's counterintelligence service Daniel Stenling told a press conference.

He said "very young individuals, even children, can be used to carry out Iranian activities that threaten security in Sweden".