Iranian intelligence is allegedly responsible for breaking into a text messaging service and sending 15,000 messages to Swedes, according to Sweden’s security agency Sapo.
According to Sapo, the data breach that occurred in the summer of last year featured SMS messages that demanded “revenge against Quran-burners” following the burning of copies of the Islamic holy book by a number of anti-Islamic activists.
The claims have been denied by Iran’s embassy in Stockholm, which has labeled them as “baseless” and detrimental to relations between the two nations.
However, Sweden claims that investigators discovered Anzu, a cyber outfit operating on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), which aimed to sow discord and portray Sweden as an anti-Islamic nation.
At the time, the police attempted to outlaw the burning of the Quran, but the courts upheld the practice due to freedom of speech rights. The Swedish government denounced the burnings of the Quran.
The events provoked anger in a number of nations with a majority of Muslims, and demonstrators set fire to Sweden’s embassy in Iraq.
In connection with the book burnings, Swedish authorities accused an Iraqi activist and a go-between of inciting hatred towards an ethnic community last month. Neither of the men admits guilt.
The prosecutor’s preliminary investigation claims that the Anzu group broke into a Swedish company’s SMS service at the end of July 2023 and stole usernames, passwords, and other tools. On August 1st, the organization sent a message to private individuals saying “those who insulted the Quran must be punished for their work.”
The Revolutionary Guards were connected to several participants in the operation, according to Sapo’s Fredrik Hallstrom, who told the Dagens Nyheter website that the SMS messages had partially succeeded in escalating the threat against Sweden.
The identities of the Iranian hackers had been successfully ascertained, according to prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist, but the investigators’ first investigation had been abandoned because there was no chance of their being extradited.
The security service issued a warning, pointing out that foreign countries like Iran were taking advantage of every opening to sow discord and strengthen their own regimes. In a statement, Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer stated that it was quite concerning that a state player like Iran intended to “destabilize Sweden or increase polarization in our country.”
Sweden’s security service has already charged Iran’s government with committing hostile activities on its soil.
In May of last year, Sapo said that Tehran had employed criminal networks in Sweden to commit violent crimes against other nations, organizations, or people in Sweden that Iran deemed to be threats.
It concluded that China, Russia, and Iran constituted Sweden’s biggest security risks.
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