Minister of Foreign Affairs Tobias Billström (M) says in a written statement that Sweden will act against Iran since Säpo singled out Tehran for using gang criminals in Sweden as proxies for hostile acts.
“Tomorrow, the Foreign Ministry will summon Iran’s chargé to state how seriously we view the information”.
“I will of course inform our partners, not least within the EU. As everyone knows, we have an ongoing discussion about Iran within the EU”.
“Furthermore, I will consult with my foreign minister colleagues in other affected EU countries,” writes Billström in a comment to TT.
“Deeply disturbing”
Tobias Billström further writes that it is alarming that a state used criminals to commit criminal acts in Sweden.
“What we see now is a connection between criminal networks and state actors. It is deeply worrying that a foreign power, in this case Iran, should have used criminal networks to commit or instigate crimes in Sweden.”
According to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) Sweden deals with three parallel threats to the country’s internal security: terrorism and violent extremism, hostile state actors and serious organized crime. Kristersson also underlines in a statement the seriousness of state actors using gang criminals.
“System threatening activity”
“The connection we now see in Sweden, we have previously seen in other European countries. It is system-threatening activity that threatens our free and open society”.
Kristersson also states that the government and the authorities are working hard to prevent other states from conducting security-threatening activities in Sweden.
“The security around Jewish and Israeli objects has been increased in the past, but I have great respect for the fact that this situation is extremely unpleasant for many Jews in Sweden. You should know that the government, the Police Authority and the Security Police take this very seriously”.