Rouzbeh Parsi, head of the Middle East program at the Foreign Policy Institute, has for many years been a leading voice on foreign policy issues. At the same time, he is linked to an impact network that was initiated by Iran’s Foreign Ministry in order to increase the country’s influence in the West. It shows leaked documents that TV4 News has taken part in.
The network, called Iranian Experts Initiative (IEI), was ruled from Tehran with the former Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif at the forefront, according to leaked documents that first reached the London -based news channel Iran International.
The documents show that Parsi participated in meetings with the network and that he had contacts with Iranian top diplomats, with close ties to Zarif, which today is vice president of Iran.
UI has repeatedly stated that one has full confidence in Parsi, which itself means The purpose of joining the network was to understand how Iran reason when making political decisions.
The requirements of the Foreign Minister
Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) takes a serious look at the information, which she now wants UI to go to the bottom with.
– The claims that have been made are very serious and, as a result, we have contacted the Foreign Policy Institute to get more information, she says.
If you get information that confirms that this is true, how will you act?
– I can’t anticipate that today. Now we have started this dialogue and then we have to take it from there. What I can say in general is that Iran conducts intelligence activities against Sweden and that we take it very seriously.
How big a security threat is Iran for Sweden?
– It is one of the three countries that we know carry out extensive intelligence work in Sweden and which constitutes an intelligence threat. It’s Iran, it’s China and it’s Russia.
The Swedish Democrats have asked a written question To Malmer Stenegard regarding the review of Parsi:
“What measures do the Minister and the Government intend to take after what has emerged about the Iranian regime’s impact work through Iranian Expert’s initiative?”
Rouzbeh Parsi does not want to comment on the Foreign Minister’s statement. TV4 News has also sought UI for a comment.
Säpo’s response
The Security Police tells TV4 News that they know the review but that they cannot go into individual cases.
“Generally speaking, the Security Police has for several years pointed out Iran as one of the countries that poses the biggest threat to Sweden, alongside Russia and China. Iran primarily focuses its intelligence gathering against opposition and individuals in the Iranian diaspora. In order to conduct intelligence collection, Iranian security and intelligence services use, among other things, by agents and try to access information by approaching people of Iranian origin. Foreign power conducts its security -threatening activities against Sweden broadly. They have large resources and work in the long term with, among other things, survey of dissidents and attempts of influence, ”they write in an email.
The Swedish Democrats: “Very serious”
The Swedish Democrats comment in writing and emphasize the importance of the fact that the Foreign Policy Institute takes the information seriously.
“We are very seriously looking at the intelligence work that authoritarian states such as Iran, China, Russia and other states conduct in Sweden and have long warned of lack of control and security. The information that has emerged about the Iranian Initiative Experts is serious and it is important that the whole picture becomes clear. I assume that UI and other actors who do a very important work take tasks like these seriously and also answer any question marks, ”writes Aron Emilsson.