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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Sweden's domestic security agency on Thursday accused Iran of using established criminal networks in Sweden as a proxy to target Israeli or Jewish interests in the Scandinavian country.

The accusations were raised at a news conference by Daniel Stenling, the head of the SAPO agency's counterespionage unit, following a series of events earlier this year.

In late January, the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm was sealed off after what was then described as a dangerous object was found on the grounds of the diplomatic mission in an eastern Stockholm neighborhood. Swedish media said the object was a hand grenade.

The embassy was not evacuated and the object was eventually destroyed. No arrests were made and authorities did not say what was found. On May 17, gunshots were heard near the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm and the area was cordoned off. No one was arrested.

Stenling said, without offering specifics or evidence to back up his assertion, that the agency "can establish that criminal networks in Sweden are used as a proxy by Iran.

It is very much about planning and attempts to carry out attacks against Israeli and Jewish interests, goals and activities in Sweden," he said and added that the agency sees "connections between criminal individuals in the criminal networks and individuals who are connected to the Iranian security services.

Justice Minister Gunnar Strmmer and Hampus Nygrds, deputy head of the Swedish police's National Operations Department, were also at the online news conference with Stenling.

We see this connection between the Iranian intelligence services, the security services and precisely criminals in the criminal networks in Sweden," Stenling said. We see that connection and it also means that we need to work much more internationally to get to the crimes and be able to prevent them.

Stenling and the others made no mention of the recent incidents connected to the Israel Embassy and stopped short of naming any criminal groups or suspects.

Sweden has grappled with gang violence for years and criminal gangs often recruit teenagers in socially disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods to carry out hits.

By May 15, police have recorded 85 shootings so far this year, including 12 fatal shootings. Last year, 53 people were killed and 109 were wounded in a total of 363 shootings.

Two main gangs the Foxtrot network headed by Rawa Majid, who lives in exile in Turkey, and its rival, Rumba have for years been involved in deadly feuds. Ankara had rejected Swedens request to have Majid, a Swedish citizen, extradited because he also holds Turkish citizenship.

Stenling said there was no reason to change the terror threat level in Sweden.

Last year, it was heightened to high, the fourth of five levels, for the first time since 2016 as the security deteriorated after public burnings of Islam's holy book, the Quran, that triggered protests in the Muslim world.

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Stockholm accuses Iran of using criminals in Sweden to target Israel or Jewish interests - Yahoo! Voices

Iran is increasing its support of terror in Europe through proxy criminal groups in the 60-day lead-up to the Paris Olympics, the Mossad revealed on Thursday.

It highlighted in particular the activities of two criminal groups FOXTROT and RUMBA alleging that they were directly responsible for a violent activity and the promotion of terrorism in Sweden and throughout Europe and that they receive funds and direction directly from Iran.

Israels spy agency charged that Iran was behind the grenade attack against Israels Embassy in Belgium this past weekend and the gunshots near the embassy in Sweden on May 17.

A similar third attempt to the attempted attack in Belgium was made to attack Israels Embassy in Sweden this past January using grenades, with the grenade not exploding in that case.

In Sweden's case, the criminal organization FOXTROT was exposed as the culprit acting on Tehrans behalf.

FOXTROT, known for its murders and large-scale drug trafficking, is the largest criminal organization in Sweden and operates in other European countries, Mossad said.

It alleged that FOXTROT head Rua Majid, a Swedish citizen of Kurdish origin nicknamed the Kurdish Fox, had been arrested in Iran for criminal activity and then recruited for terror activity and released to carry out terror for Iran.

FOXTROTs rival gang RUMBA, headed by Ismail Abdo, was behind the May 17 gunshots near Israels embassy in Sweden, the Mossad said.

Iran frequently uses criminal organizations to carry out attacks on its behalf to try to hide its hand in the attacks.

In addition, Mossad said that Iran is trying to take advantage of the wave of global antisemitism relating to the war to recruit a variety of new kinds of proxies to carry out its terror attacks globally.

While the Islamic Republic is constantly trying to achieve acceptance and a level of normalization with the EU and the West, Mossad has worked together with European intelligence agencies to expose its proxies and tentacles of terror throughout the world.

Iran's global terror plans go back long before the current war.

In September 2023, Mossad Director David Barnea said that his agency and other intelligence agencies in Israel and among foreign allies thwarted 27 Iranian terror plots that year against Israelis all over the world on almost every continent.

Barnea showed off videos from Iranian terror agents that the Mossad captured and interrogated in Tanzania and Cyprus. He added that whoever sends terrorists against Israelis and Jews "will be brought to justice. We will raise our level against you."

He listed off the countries of Tanzania; Georgie, Cyprus, Greece, and Germany as just a few examples, naming Yousef Shahbazi Abbasalilo as an Iranian operative in the terror operation in Cyprus and Hamidreza Abraheh as an Iranian operative in the terror operation in Tanzania.

Sweden responded to the attacks, saying, "The Swedish Security Service (SPO) can now conclude that criminal networks in Sweden are a type of proxy that the Iranian regime is using. This is something that Iran previously have done in Europe, so it is nothing new.

But we now see concrete evidence on it in Sweden, connections between criminal networks and individuals within them, that has connections to Iranian Intelligence Services, said the Swedish statement.

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Mossad: Iran promoting terror in Europe 60 days before Paris Olympics - The Jerusalem Post

Iran has ruled out sabotage or electronic warfare as the cause of the helicopter crash that resulted in the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their entourage. The announcement, made Wednesday by the General Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, follows the release of their second detailed report on the incident.

The report's findings are based on an extensive examination of the helicopter's wreckage and the debris dispersion at the mountainous crash site. According to the investigation, there was no evidence of an explosion or any form of sabotage, and the wreckage patterns aligned with a crash scenario rather than an attack.

Additionally, the investigation assessed the helicopter's operational parameters at the time of the crash. It was confirmed that the total weight of passengers and equipment was within the aircrafts maximum load limit.

Communication with the flight crew was maintained up to 69 seconds before the crash, indicating no disruption or interference in the helicopters communication systems.

The report also mentioned that weather conditions during the return flight to Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan province, would need further analysis to determine their potential impact on the accident.

These findings build on the initial report released on May 23, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the circumstances leading to the crash.

Original post:
Iran releases report on helicopter crash that killed Raisi - The Jerusalem Post

Irans role in funding and arming proxy groups in the Middle East has been well documented and has gotten extra attention since the Hamas-led attack in Israel in October 2023. Similarly, Tehrans arms shipments to Russia are well known and have prompted complaints and sanctions from the West.

But Tehran has received little coverage of its military intervention in another deadly conflict: Sudans civil war.

Since that conflict started in April 2023, it has killed at least 13,000 people, injured over 33,000 others and displaced millions more. After years of relative peace, people are once again being massacred in the southern region of Darfur.

In the immediate aftermath of fighting breaking out between two rival factions of Sudans military government, Iran limited its involvement to supplying humanitarian aid.

But that policy didnt last long. Between December 2023 and January 2024, Tehran supplied several Mohajer-6 midrange reconnaissance and combat drones to President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF.

In February, the drones helped the SAF take territory from Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, during an offensive in the city of Omdurman.

While the conflict in Sudan has gotten less global attention than those in Ukraine and Gaza, it is strategically significant for Tehran. As an expert on Irans foreign policy, I see how Tehran is increasingly using involvement in African conflict zones to advance the countrys military, commercial and particularly geopolitical goals. It follows a similar trajectory as Irans involvement in Ethiopia during the Tigray war of 2020-22.

Militarily and commercially, drone exports to the SAF have been a continuation of Irans actions since the expiration of a U.N. arms embargo against Tehran in October 2020.

Since then, Iran has delivered surveillance and attack drones not only to its quasi- and nonstate proxies and partners in the Middle East such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis in Yemen but also increasingly to states outside the region such as Ethiopia, Russia, Tajikistan and Venezuela.

Iran has done this to project power, strengthen alliances and influence conflicts in the Middle East and other regions. At the same time, it can prove a lucrative source of income for the Iranian economy, as well as a showcase for the countrys technology. While it is difficult to determine the precise revenue Iran has received from military drone exports, the estimated value of the global market in 2022 was US$12.55 billion, a figure expected to reach $14.14 billion in 2023 and $35.60 billion in 2030.

In regards to Sudan, arming the SAF helps both Irans wider geopolitical goals and its competition with regional rivals, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

Iran-Sudan relations date back to 1989, when Tehran backed the coup led by Omar al-Bashir, who later became the president of Sudan. During the 1990s and 2000s, Iran offered development assistance and military aid to Sudan. It exported tractors there and stationed naval vessels at Sudanese ports in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

Along these strategic routes and shipping lanes, Tehran exported oil to African countries and smuggled weapons to regional clients, including the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

As a fellow so-called rogue state subjected to U.S. sanctions and embargoes, Sudan provided diplomatic support to Tehran throughout the period.

It recognized Irans right to pursue a nuclear program and voted against U.N. General Assembly resolutions condemning Tehrans human rights record. From 1979 to 2021, Sudan ranked as Irans third-largest trading partner in Africa and accounted for 3% of its average annual trade with the continent.

But between 2013 and 2016, Iran-Sudan relations suffered a series of severe setbacks. In 2014, Sudan closed Irans cultural center and expelled its diplomatic officials for purportedly proselytizing Shiism in a predominantly Sunni country. Two years later, in 2016, it and other countries in the Horn of Africa cut formal ties with Tehran.

These setbacks resulted from Iran disengaging from Sudan and Africa to concentrate on nuclear diplomacy with the United States and other world powers. They also coincided with growing military, diplomatic and economic assistance from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to Sudan and other states in the Horn of Africa in exchange for joining the Saudi-led coalition against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

This assistance was especially enticing to Sudan as it confronted isolation and economic adversity as a result of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for al-Bashir, the secession of oil-rich South Sudan and the imposition of intensified sanctions by the U.S.

Despite Iran and Sudan subsequently participating in multilateral meetings on agricultural cooperation, the bilateral relations between the countries never fully recovered.

The civil war has provided an opportunity for Iran to correct course with Sudan. Supporting the SAF can help Tehran salvage relations with Sudan while also countering or containing Saudi and Emirate influence in the country and the wider continent.

Tehran aspires to assist al-Burhan and the SAF win the war and take back control of the state.

Giving assistance to the SAF also fits a dynamic that predates the war and again relates to Irans battle for influence with Saudi Arabia. In 2019, while Hemedti served alongside al-Burhan in the Transitional Military Council after al-Bashirs ouster by a coup, he visited Saudi Arabia and pledged support for it against Iran and the Houthis.

Nonetheless, supporting the SAF is not without risks for Iran.

For starters, a victory for al-Burhan and the SAF is far from certain. Since October 2023, the RSF has taken some key states, including the capital of Khartoum and the breadbasket of Gezira. In February 2024, the SAF launched an offensive in Omdurman and made gains there. However, the overall balance may still tilt in the RSFs favor.

And unlike the wars in Syria and Ukraine, in Sudan, Tehran has found itself in the awkward position of supporting an adversary of Russia, which sponsors the RSF.

And contrary to the Ethiopia conflict, in which Iran supported the government against rebel groups alongside Turkey and the UAE, Tehran and Abu Dhabi are competing for influence in Sudan by backing the SAF and RSF, respectively. Outside the military realm, the UAE has a sizable economic edge over Iran as Sudans largest export partner and second largest import partner.

Even if al-Burhan were to emerge victorious, its not a given that Irans position in Sudan would significantly improve or its influence grow.

Iran is constrained by being a Shiite power; Sudan is a Sunni-majority country. And even before Sudan severed ties with Iran and descended into another civil war, it had long accepted agricultural, commercial, developmental and military assistance from Irans regional rivals, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

After Khartoum joined the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, it normalized relations with Tel Aviv through the Abraham Accords in return for diplomatic and economic incentives from the U.S.

Time will tell whether Irans military intervention in Sudan marks a turning point in bilateral relations, or whether its nothing more than a weapons transfer in another civil conflict fueled by foreign intervention.

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Iran's intervention in Sudan's civil war advances its geopolitical goals but not without risks - The Conversation

There were no remarks from the West European or East European groups, or from the United States, which normally speaks last representing the host country.

The United States will not attend todays United Nations tribute event for president Raisi in any capacity, Nate Evans, spokesperson for the US Mission to the UN said. Raisi was involved in numerous, horrific human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killings of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. Some of the worst human rights abuses on record took place during his tenure.

The UN should be standing with the people of Iran, Evans said in a statement.

While the tribute was taking place in the assembly chamber, more than 100 protesters held banners across the street from UN headquarters saying: Shame on UN holding memorial for Raisi, Butcher of Tehran, and chanting similar words.

Before the assembly met, 45 current and former UN officials, experts, ambassadors and judges sent a joint letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres protesting the tribute to an individual involved in mass atrocities.

Raisi, 63, a powerful figure in Irans authoritarian Islamic government, was killed in a helicopter crash on May 20 along with the countrys foreign minister and six others.

He had long been considered a potential successor for Irans supreme leader, 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in whose hands power ultimately rests, but was reviled by opponents, and sanctioned by the US, for his role in mass executions of political prisoners at the end of Irans long war with Iraq in the 1980s.

Many also hold Raisi responsible for the death of Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody in September 2022 after being detained for allegedly violating Irans mandatory headscarf law.

Aminis death sparked mass protests against the countrys ruling theocracy, and a security crackdown that saw more than 500 people killed and over 22,000 detained.

On Thursday, General Assembly President Dennis Francis opened the meeting offering the world bodys deepest condolences to the government and people of Iran.

Throughout his career, Francis said: president Raisi held significant roles in Iranian society and government and as president, led his countrys contribution to shape the tenets of our multilateral system and international cooperation.

Guterres then spoke, also offering condolences and said Raisi led Iran at a challenging time for the country, the region and globally but skipping a tribute.

Guterres assured the Iranian people the United Nations stands with them and in the quest for peace, development and fundamental freedoms.

He was followed by Burundis ambassador Zephyrin Maniratanga who spoke on behalf of African nations and praised Raisi as a distinguished leader who devoted his life to serving his nation and fostering international cooperation particularly with African countries.

Vanuatu diplomat Marjorie Wells, speaking for the Asia-Pacific group, then spoke, calling Raisis death a heartbreaking loss, saying he served the Iranian people with great dedication and passion and worked tirelessly to promote growth, justice and progress.

Haitis UN ambassador Antonio Rodrigue, speaking for the Latin America and Caribbean group, called Raisis death a great loss for Iran, recounting his career and saying he dedicated his life to the service of his country.

The West and East European and the US should have followed. Instead, Assembly president Francis then gave the floor to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Nonaligned Movement which Iran belongs to for tributes that praised Raisi.

The final speaker from the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Irans rival Saudi Arabia, said Raisi served his country and sent condolences to the Iranian people and leadership saying: We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.

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UN tribute to Iran's late president marred by protests and European and US snubs - South China Morning Post