Overview
- Sweden expelled an Iranian embassy employee and summoned Iran’s ambassador on Wednesday after concluding the official’s actions breached the Vienna Convention and posed security risks to people in Sweden.
- Swedish ministers and the security service said the decision rested on intelligence alleging Iran used proxies, including criminal networks, to target regime opponents and Jewish and Israeli interests.
- Iran rejected the accusations as baseless, summoned Sweden’s ambassador in Tehran, and gave a Swedish diplomat 48 hours to leave in a direct reciprocal response.
- Stockholm has not publicly named the expelled official or disclosed operational details, saying the measures are based on ongoing intelligence and security work.
- The case follows earlier Swedish allegations of Iran-linked attacks and recruitment of criminal actors and has prompted higher government focus on protecting Jewish life and dissidents, with possible further diplomatic reprisals and increased domestic security steps likely.