A case shaking Sweden’s civil service has emerged this week after Sveriges Radio’s Ekot revealed that a longtime case officer at the Swedish Migration Agency has been fired following a warning from Säpo, the national security service, over alleged ties to Iran-linked circles.
While the exact nature of the connections remains classified, internal documents seen by Ekot state that the employee maintained “inappropriate associations” and contacts over an extended period, specifically during his free time. According to the agency, these activities were judged to reflect disloyalty toward the Swedish state, prompting his dismissal earlier this year. Aftonbladet also reported on the case, confirming the timeline and the serious security concerns involved.
Hans Kemkes, head of security at the Migration Agency, told Ekot: “The information is credible from our perspective, and that’s why we’re acting this way. Yes, it’s serious—and that’s exactly why it led to a dismissal in this case.”
#Iran News: #Swedish Government Investigates Rouzbeh Parsi’s Alleged Ties to Iranian Influence Networkhttps://t.co/PieDxzFzty
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) February 6, 2025
The individual in question had been employed at the agency since 2016. While no evidence has surfaced that classified data was compromised, the agency concluded that the employee could not remain in his role due to the seriousness of the situation. Kemkes added that the agency would not be implementing special new measures solely due to this incident, but that security development is part of their ongoing institutional work.
According to Ekot, the Säpo alert was issued in November 2024, but the employee was only placed on leave in January 2025, after security services asked the agency to delay any action in order to gather further intelligence. Documents also show the employee initially admitted to parts of the accusations, only to later deny them entirely.
While Säpo has declined to comment and the individual has not responded to media inquiries, the case underscores growing concerns in Sweden about foreign influence operations, particularly by the clerical regime in Iran, which has a record of targeting diaspora communities and infiltrating foreign institutions.
#Iran News: Swedish Authorities Detain and Plan to Expel Iranian Cleric Mohsen Hakimollahihttps://t.co/pKSw962Sdw
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 31, 2025
In 2021, Swedish media revealed the arrest of Peyman Kia, a former senior officer at Sweden’s Security Police (Säpo), who was later convicted of spying for Tehran between 2011 and 2015 while holding top-level access to classified information. His case—and the arrest of an Iranian couple posing as Afghan refugees the same year—highlighted the depth and persistence of the regime’s espionage network in Europe, a network that continues to surface within sensitive institutions under the cover of dual identities or community engagement.
This latest development comes amid heightened diplomatic tension between Stockholm and Tehran, driven by cases such as the imprisonment of Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali in Iran, and the recently concluded Hamid Noury trial in Sweden, in which the former Iranian official was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners.
Security analysts warn that the case may lead to closer scrutiny of foreign-born officials in sensitive public roles, especially those with links to authoritarian states with a history of espionage and transnational repression.