An Iranian couple working for the intelligence services of the Islamic Republic, and deported from Sweden in 2022 to their country of origin, planned to assassinate Jewish people in Sweden, Swedish public radio revealed on Tuesday.
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The man and woman in question, Mahdi Ramezani and Fereshteh Sanaeifarid, were arrested in April 2021 in the suburbs of Stockholm, suspected of criminal conspiracy to commit a terrorist crime, according to the same source.
The couple, who obtained asylum in 2017 by posing as Afghans, were deported from Sweden in 2022 to Iran because they posed a threat to national security, an investigation by Sveriges Radio shows.
"We are convinced that they were here on a mission on behalf of Iran. They were considered a very serious security threat here in Sweden. That is why they were expelled," Hans said Ihrman, prosecutor in charge of the case when the couple was arrested, to Sveriges Radio.
No official information has been communicated about these two people but Sveriges Radio reveals that the couple had been instructed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, to instigate attacks in Sweden against Jewish targets.
These alleged agents during their stay in the Scandinavian country identified three Swedish Jews as targets, including Aron Verständig, president of the Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden, along with addresses and supporting photos.
“I was worried. As a parent of young children, you have (...) a great responsibility regarding (their) safety,” he told the radio station..
Verständig had been notified by domestic intelligence services that he was a target in 2021, according to Swedish radio and the tabloid Aftonbladet.
"There was mapping. There was contact with Iran. It was on exactly how the targets were to be attacked that we failed to obtain the necessary evidence that would have been a prerequisite to prosecution,” Mr. Ihrman explained to SR.
The two Iranians deny the accusations, according to the radio.
Iran and Israel have been engaged in a latent war for years.
Israel accuses Iran of wanting to acquire a nuclear bomb - which Iran denies - and says it is seeking by all means to prevent it. Israel also wants to counter Iran's influence in the Middle East.
Tehran in return accuses Israel of being behind a series of sabotage and assassinations targeting its nuclear program.