Iran Suspected in Attacks on Israeli Embassies in Sweden and Denmark

Swedish intelligence officials link recent embassy incidents at Stockholm and Copenhagen to Iranian involvement, raising regional security concerns

Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP
Military police officers stand guard as police investigate two explosions near the Israeli embassy at Copenhagen, Wednesday. Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP

Intelligence officials in Sweden say that they believe Iran is behind a series of attacks near the Israeli Embassies in Sweden and Denmark in recent days.

The first of the two attacks occurred at Stockholm on Tuesday when shots were fired at the Israeli embassy on the Strandvagen, with police officials confirming that gunfire had struck the building. A few hours later in the early morning hours on Wednesday, two explosions caused by hand grenades occurred near the embassy at Copenhagen, Denmark.

Law enforcement officials in Denmark arrested three Swedish nationals in connection with the incident. Officials for Sweden’s intelligence agency, known as SAPO, said Thursday they believe that the attacks, in which no injuries were reported, was linked to Iran, according to the Times of Israel.

“There are some things that could point in that direction,” SAPO’s head of operations, Frederik Hallstrom, said during a press conference when asked about reports about Iran’s possible involvement. “In part due to the choice of targets and modus operandi, but that is an assumption rather than pure knowledge.”

While no arrests have been made in the Stockholm incident, Danish officials at Copenhagen arrested two of the Swedish nationals on a train at the city’s Central Station while a third was arrested at the scene.

The pair of embassy attacks have heightened concerns about security in the region. Since the Israel-Hamas war began last October, there have been reports of several incidents where Israeli interests in Sweden were attacked, including a grenade found on the embassy grounds in February and shots fired in the area in May of this year.

On Wednesday, Swedish broadcaster SVT reported that they had received information that Iran had urged the Swedish criminal organization Foxtrot to carry out the attacks. The news agency reported that investigators are working under this assumption as well.

“I think the extent of the networks and their contacts has been underestimated. The leadership can have contacts with high-ranking people around the world,” SVT crime reporter Sofia Yohannes said during the channel’s coverage of the incidents, adding that several Swedish nationals have recently carried out assassination attempts and other acts of violence abroad.


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