The Islamic Republic of Iran is behind a series of terrorist attacks carried out by criminal gangs targeting Israeli embassies throughout Europe since Oct. 7, the Mossad intelligence agency said on Thursday.
The Israeli intelligence agency opened up a probe alongside European counterparts after an object believed to be a hand grenade was thrown towards the Israeli embassy in Stockholm on Jan. 31.
Following an investigation, detectives concluded that Sweden’s Foxtrot organized crime network carried out the attack on the compound at Tehran’s behest, the Mossad said on Thursday.
Dozens of Iran-backed terrorist plots against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe were uncovered in recent months, many of which used local criminal rings, the agency said.
Two weeks ago, Stockholm police opened an investigation after a patrol heard gunshots near the embassy of the Jewish state. The Mossad said on Thursday that Swedish security forces arrested a 14-year-old suspect in connection with the attack, which was said to have been carried out by a crime group called Rumba and also directed by Iran.
Tehran-backed gangs are also thought to have carried out an attack on Israel’s mission in Brussels, in which two airsoft grenades were thrown.
(Airsoft is a team-based shooting game in which participants eliminate opposing players from play by shooting them with spherical plastic projectiles shot from airsoft guns. Airsoft grenades come in various types and functionalities, including gas airsoft grenades, sound airsoft grenades and airsoft smoke grenades.)
“Iran operates many criminal organizations in Sweden and Europe in general, while taking advantage of the relative advantage of each and sometimes the rivalry between them,” the Mossad statement continued.
Foxtrot and Rumba receive funding and direction from Iran, Jerusalem revealed, adding that they are closely monitored by local intelligence agencies.
In April, Israel renewed calls for other nations to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization and impose “painful” sanctions on Tehran after the regime launched hundreds of missiles and suicide drones at the Jewish state in a direct attack.
Last year, the European Parliament voted in favor of a measure calling for Brussels to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group, but the nonbinding measure was stymied by foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who asserted that such a move was not possible until an E.U. court had ruled on the issue.
Responding last month to Borrell’s claim that the legal conditions have not been met, Charlie Weimers, a Swedish member of European Parliament for the Conservatives and Reformists group, called the top diplomat a “liar.”
“Here, I have the [European] Council’s secret legal opinion. Nowhere in this document does it say that it has to be an authority in the E.U.,” he said. “You know that. You knew the truth. You shamelessly lied to protect the IRGC. We won’t miss you, Mr. Borrell, but I’m sure the mullahs will.”
(The European Council is a collegiate body that defines the overall political direction and priorities of the European Union. It is part of the executive of the European Union beside the European Commission. It is composed of the heads of state or of government of the E.U. member states, the president of the European Council and the president of the European Commission. )
Some E.U. countries, including Germany, are pushing to classify the IRGC as a terrorist organization based on a Düsseldorf court ruling holding Tehran responsible for an attack on a synagogue in November 2022.
