The Iran uses gangs to commit violent acts against interests in Sweden of Israel and “other states”, the Swedish intelligence service (Säpo) said today.

“The Iranian regime uses criminal networks in Sweden to commit violent acts against other states” on Swedish soil, they said in a statement. These primarily target “Israeli and Jewish objectives, activities and interests in Sweden“.

The charge comes two weeks after “suspicious” shots were fired near the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, according to police. And in February, an “activated explosive device” was found inside the embassy compound, with the Israeli ambassador speaking of an “attempted attack”. Following these incidents, Swedish police have increased security around facilities of Israeli and Jewish interests on Swedish soil.

THE SAPO reports that he has seen the Iranian regime use criminal networks inside Sweden to carry out violent acts against other states, groups and individuals.

These activities mainly target dissident groups and persons from the Iranian diaspora, but have also extended to representatives of other countries such as Israel, the Swedish security agency said in the statement. “Such activities could be carried out with the intention of harming Israeli and Jewish goals, interests and activities in Sweden.”

“Iran has already resorted to violent actions inside other countries in Europe in an attempt to silence critical voices and perceived threats against its regime,” Säpo adds.

“We assess that a regional conflict has expanded to a global scale and that Sweden is now the arena where (the conflict) can take place,” intelligence chief Daniel Stenling said during a news conference.

“Very young people, even children, can be used to commit crimes in Sweden, in liaison with Iranian security services,” according to Säpo.

Sweden has struggled to curb the violence of gang battles for years, dealing with shootings and explosions every week. These violent incidents were initially linked to the battle to control drug trafficking.

Swedish security services say they have taken and “will continue to take measures to prevent, deter and reduce Iran’s ability to carry out security-threatening activities”.