Swedish authorities have documented a string of attacks perpetrated by minors between 2023 and 2024 on behalf of Iran.
A chilling new terror campaign backed by Iran has emerged in Sweden where children as young as 14 are being recruited to attack Israeli targets.
Swedish authorities have documented a string of attacks perpetrated by minors between 2023 and 2024 on behalf of Iran, including a shocking case where authorities detained a 14-year-old after he fired several rounds from a 9mm semi-automatic pistol at Stockholm’s Israeli embassy. Due to his age, he wasn’t prosecuted while a 15-year-old accomplice received only 11 months in juvenile detention despite being convicted of serious weapons charges.
“After the 7th of October, we saw this type of modus operandi,” Fredrik Hallström, head of operations at the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO), tells CNN. “It becomes a problem for us when it’s another state like Iran that uses these kids as a proxy. Organized crime in Sweden right now is a huge vulnerability that is being used by state actors.”
Social media has been a key tool in this recruitment effort, giving Iranian operatives easy access to impressionable teenagers across various platforms. Messages uncovered during the investigation include offers of “$150,000” for hits and recruitment calls stating “we need loads of shooters, jobs in all of Sweden” and “shooter needed for Denmark shoot to the head.”
Prices reportedly start from about €1,500 for a murder while a petrol bomb attack can earn a young terrorist €120. Most troublingly, many of these young perpetrators don’t understand they’re operating as agents of a foreign power, creating a shadow network of unwitting terror proxies for Tehran’s regional ambitions. Additionally, Israel’s Mossad has traced Tehran-funded attacks against Israeli targets to Sweden’s rival gangs, Foxtrot’s Rawa Majid and Rumba’s Ismail Abdo.