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Iran Involved in Plot to Assassinate Jews in Sweden

A picture distributed by Swedish Radio shows the Iranian couple who were deported in 2022.
A picture distributed by Swedish Radio shows the Iranian couple who were deported in 2022.
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Iran Involved in Plot to Assassinate Jews in Sweden

A picture distributed by Swedish Radio shows the Iranian couple who were deported in 2022.
A picture distributed by Swedish Radio shows the Iranian couple who were deported in 2022.

Swedish Radio (SR) revealed on Tuesday that an Iranian man and woman working for Iranian intelligence services were deported to their country in 2022 on charges of planning to assassinate Jews in Sweden.
Mahdi Ramezani and Fereshteh Sanaeifarid were arrested in April 2021, on the outskirts of Stockholm, on suspicion of conspiring to commit a terrorist crime, according to AFP, quoting the Swedish media.
An investigation conducted by Swedish Radio showed that the couple, who obtained asylum in 2017 after pretending to be Afghan refugees, were deported to Iran because they posed a threat to national security.
Due to a lack of evidence, the two were never charged but were reportedly expelled from the country in 2022 for posing a security risk.
“We have strong belief that they were here on a mission on behalf of Iran. They were seen here in Sweden as a very severe security threat. And that’s the reason why they were expelled, even if we couldn’t prosecute them,” deputy chief prosecutor Hans Ihrman told the broadcaster.
No official information was revealed about the two individuals. But SR cited sources saying that they were working on behalf of the IRGC and reportedly identified three different targets, gathering addresses and photographs.
One of the suspected targets was believed to be Aron Verstandig, Chair of the Official Council of Swedish Jewish communities, who told SR that he had received a call from the Swedish Security Service in 2021, informing him that he was believed to be at risk.
He said: “They basically told me that you have been named as one of the targets of a possible terror crime that involves murder.”
The radio station indicated that the two Iranians deny the accusations. There was no comment from the Iranian authorities.
Relations between Sweden and Iran witnessed a crisis after a Swedish court issued a life imprisonment sentence against Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian prison official, for his involvement in mass executions of prisoners, ordered by Tehran in 1988.
In response to Nouri’s trial, Iran detained many Swedish citizens.

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US Slaps Sanctions on Network It Accuses of Moving Billions for Iran’s Military

The Treasury Department is pictured in Washington, US, April 25, 2021. (Reuters)
The Treasury Department is pictured in Washington, US, April 25, 2021. (Reuters)
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US Slaps Sanctions on Network It Accuses of Moving Billions for Iran’s Military

The Treasury Department is pictured in Washington, US, April 25, 2021. (Reuters)
The Treasury Department is pictured in Washington, US, April 25, 2021. (Reuters)

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on nearly 50 entities and people it accused of moving billions of dollars for Iran's military.

The US Treasury Department in a statement said those targeted on Tuesday constitute a "shadow banking network" used by Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), both of which are under US sanctions.

The network helped the MODAFL and IRGC - which earn money notably from the sale of oil and petrochemicals - gain access to the international financial system and process the equivalent of billions of dollars since 2020, the Treasury said.

The Treasury said the revenue generated by the MODAFL and IRGC through networks of Iranian exchange houses and foreign cover companies supported the provision of weapons and funding to Iran's proxy groups, including Yemen's Houthi militias, and the transfer of drones to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine.

Washington has issued rafts of sanctions targeting Iranian drones and the Houthis, who have been launching drone and missile strikes in shipping lanes since November in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Israel's war in Gaza.

"We continue to work with allies and partners, as well as the global financial industry, to increase vigilance against the movement of funds supporting terrorism," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in the statement.

Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately comment on the action.

Tuesday's action targeted dozens of companies in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Marshall Islands, as well as Iran and Türkiye-based firms.

The Treasury said the MODAFL Supply Division uses exchange houses in Iran that manage numerous cover companies registered in jurisdictions such as Hong Kong or the UAE to launder revenue, including from oil sales conducted by Sahara Thunder, which the US imposed sanctions on in April.

The Treasury at the time accused Sahara Thunder of being a front company that oversees MODAFL's commercial activities in support of the IRGC and Russia's war in Ukraine, playing a key role in Iran's design, development, manufacture and sale of thousands of drones.

The move freezes the US assets of banned companies and individuals, and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those that engage in certain transactions with them also risk being hit with sanctions.