Swedish agents have arrested a Swedish citizen suspected of spying, the intelligence ministry said Saturday. The statement says the suspect was in contact with other figures in Iran and has visited Israel, Iran’s enemy.
The statement accused Sweden of spying for Israel. There was no immediate response from Sweden. This is the second Swedish Iranian citizen arrested in recent months.
In May, Sweden confirmed that Iran had arrested a Swedish citizen at a time of strained relations between Stockholm and Tehran.
In early July, Iran withdrew its ambassador from Sweden after a Swedish court sentenced Iranian citizen Hamid Noury to life in prison for war crimes and murder during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Noury, 61, was arrested in November 2019 when he arrived in Stockholm on a tourist trip.
In recent months, several Europeans have been detained in Iran, including a Swedish tourist, two Frenchmen, a Polish scientist and others.
The arrests raised concerns that Iran hoped to use the prisoners as bargaining chips to pressure the United States and European nations to grant sanctions relief it received under its 2015 nuclear deal.