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Swedish Man Detained in Iran as Relations Deteriorate

Members of the Iranian special forces. Reuters
Members of the Iranian special forces. Reuters
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Swedish Man Detained in Iran as Relations Deteriorate

Members of the Iranian special forces. Reuters
Members of the Iranian special forces. Reuters

A Swedish man has been detained in Iran, the Swedish foreign ministry said on Friday, just days after it advised against unnecessary travel to Iran, citing a deteriorating security situation.

Relations between Sweden and Iran are tense after Sweden detained and put on trial a former Iranian official on charges of war crimes for the mass execution and torture of political prisoners at an Iranian prison in the 1980s.

The trial, condemned by Iran, ended on Wednesday and the verdict is due in July.

"We are aware that a Swedish citizen, a man in his 30s, has recently been detained in Iran. The embassy in Tehran is seeking information on the case and is in contact with local authorities," the Swedish Foreign ministry said in an e-mailed statement.

According to Reuters, it offered no further details.

The Swedish daily Aftonbladet, citing unnamed sources, said the man is a tourist traveling with other Swedes and was detained after a few days of vacation.

Sweden amended its travel advice for Iran on April 28 as the trial of Hamid Noury, 61, was drawing to a close. Noury is accused of having played a leading role in the executions of political prisoners on government orders at the Gohardasht prison in Karaj, Iran, in 1988. He has denied the charges.

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North Korea Opening Tourist Site on East Coast Next Week

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, sitting center, with his wife Ri Sol Ju, rear, and daughter tours the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone in North Korea Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, sitting center, with his wife Ri Sol Ju, rear, and daughter tours the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone in North Korea Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
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20
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North Korea Opening Tourist Site on East Coast Next Week

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, sitting center, with his wife Ri Sol Ju, rear, and daughter tours the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone in North Korea Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, sitting center, with his wife Ri Sol Ju, rear, and daughter tours the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone in North Korea Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korea next week will open a signature tourist site on its east coast that it called a prelude to a new era in its tourism industry, though there is no word on when the country will fully reopen its borders to foreign visitors.

The Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone has hotels and other accommodations for nearly 20,000 guests who can swim in the sea, play sports and other recreation activities and eat at restaurants and cafeterias on site, state media said, according to The Associated Press.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured the site and cut the inaugural tape at a lavish ceremony Tuesday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday. He said its construction would be recorded as “one of the greatest successes this year" and called the site “the proud first step” toward realizing the government's policy of developing tourism, according to KCNA.

The Wonsan-Kalma zone will begin service for domestic tourists next Tuesday, KCNA said. But it didn't say when it will start receiving foreign tourists.

Kim has been pushing to make the country a tourism hub as part of efforts to revive the ailing economy, and the Wonsan-Kalma zone is one of his most talked-about tourism projects. KCNA reported North Korea will confirm plans to build large tourist sites in other parts of the country, too.

But North Korea hasn't fully lifted the travel curbs, including a ban on foreign tourists, that were imposed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting from February 2024, North Korea has been accepting Russian tourists amid the booming military and other partnerships between the two countries, but Chinese group tours, which made up more than 90% of visitors before the pandemic, remain stalled.

In February this year, a small group of international tourists visited the country for the first time in five years, but tourist agencies said in March that their tours to North Korea were paused.