| Mission1: | Embassy of Iran, Stockholm |
| Mission2: | Embassy of Sweden, Tehran |
Iran–Sweden relations are foreign relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Sweden.
Ludvig Fabritius led three missions to Safavid Persia, in 1679–80, 1683–84, and 1697–1700, to the Safavid court during the reign of Charles XI of Sweden (r. 1660–1697) and Charles XII of Sweden (r. 1697–1718); and Suleiman of Persia (26 October 1666 – 29 July 1694), Sultan Husayn (29 July 1694 – 11 September 1722).[1] [2]
In 1911, the Swedish government was asked by the Persians if soldiers could be sent to Qajar Persia to organize the construction of a gendarmerie. In the same year, the first Swedish officers came to the country. This became the Iranian Gendarmerie, commanded by Swedish officers between 1911 and 1921. The first Swedish officers traveled to Persia in 1911, and during the period 1911-1916, a total of about sixty Swedes worked in the country. The police force was equipped by the Swedish police. When World War I broke out, the Swedes were accused of cooperating with Germany, which resulted in the officers and police having to leave Persia.[3]
Sweden and Pahlavi Iran established diplomatic relations in connection with the conclusion of a treaty of friendship in 1929.[4] Iran operates an embassy in Stockholm and Sweden operates an embassy in Tehran.
In November 1934, Swedish Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, Crown Princess Margaret, Princess Ingrid and Prince Bertil visited Iran. At the border, they were received by a representative of the Persian government and in Tehran by the Foreign Minister and the Grand Master of the Ceremonies, as well as representatives of the government agencies. The Crown Prince's family went in a procession to the castle, where the Shah and the Crown Prince represented the council president and others. Reza Shah then accompanied the Crown Prince to the Golestan Palace. After several days in the Persian capital, the Crown Prince left for the Mazandaran Province to study for three days the ongoing construction work on the Trans-Iranian Railway. He then returned to Tehran to say goodbye to the Shah. The Crown Prince's family then left on 17 November in Volvo cars for Isfahan and Persepolis. In the latter place, the royals lived in the so-called Xerxes' harem and visited the city under the leadership of Professor Ernst Herzfeld. An excursion was made to Shiraz. On 25 November, the return journey to Baghdad began over the snowy passes along the Kum-Sultanabad-Kermanshah road.[5]
In April 2016, Ahmad Reza Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish doctor and researcher in disaster medicine, was arrested and charged with spying on Iranian's nuclear program for Israel, accusations he denied,[6] [7] before being taken to the Evin Prison, where he reportedly faced repeated tortures and threats. In October 2017, Djalali was convicted of "spreading corruption on earth" and sentenced to death: multiple reports about the time of his execution have surfaced ever since.[8]
In 2021, tensions escalated between Iran and Sweden over the trial of Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian official convicted in Sweden of committing grave war crimes and murder during the Iran-Iraq War and the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners.[9]
In May 2023, Habib Chaab, an Iranian-Swedish political activist, founder and former leader of Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, was executed by hanging in Iran, after being accused of masterminding a 2018 attack on a military parade that killed 25 people.
In September 2023, a New York Times article revealed that Johan Floderus, a 33-year-old Swedish man who had been working as a diplomat for the European Union since 2019, had been arrested at the Imam Khomeini International Airport while on holiday in Tehran in April 2022, being subsequently taken to the Evin Prison.[10] [11] [12]
In February 2017, Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven and minister of trade Ann Linde, along with representatives from government agencies and companies, visited Iran and met with several Iranian ministers. Linde was criticized for wearing the Islamic veil during the trip.[13]
In the late 2010s and into 2020, a number of Swedish academic universities and institutions pursued partnerships and exchange programs with institutions in Iran, also after Swedish-Iranian researcher Ahmad Reza Jalali was given the death penalty by Iranian authorities in October 2017.[14] These academic institutions were:[15]
The Chairman of the Swedish Parliament's Foreign Policy Commission said in 2008 that Iran has a right to civilian nuclear technology. He also supported diplomatic means to find a solution to the issue that was acceptable to both sides.[16] In 2007, Christofer Gyllenstierna, the Swedish Ambassador to Iran, claimed that because traders and businessmen ultimately make investment decisions in Sweden, economic sanctions would not affect Sweden's trade with Iran.[17] In February 2009, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Austria and Sweden opposed a list of additional stricter sanctions proposed by the EU3 against the Islamic Republic.[18]
In July 2009, the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt insisted that dialogue was the only solution to the Iranian nuclear situation, saying that the European Parliament faced difficult choices when world powers restarted talks with Tehran to halt Iranian uranium enrichment in exchange for political and economic incentives.[19]
Christofer Gyllenstierna, Sweden's Ambassador to Iran, said at a symposium in Tehran in 2007 that Sweden has potential markets in Iran. He also said that Iran's capabilities and possibilities have attracted the attention of Swedish businesses. He claimed that Sweden planned on increasing mutual trade cooperation with Iran.[17] In 2003, Sweden and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in which Sweden recommended that Iran be given membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). In return, Iran would allow Sweden to implement industrial, mining, and telecommunication projects inside the country.[20] Since the UN Security Council and the European Union (which Sweden is part of) began imposing stricter sanctions, however, Swedish–Iranian bilateral trade has declined. Bilateral trade between the two amounted to only $500 million in 2007.[21] Relations between Sweden and IRI have been shaky because of the arrest of Hamid Noury.[22]
On 31 March 2015, the first friendly football match was played between the Swedish national team and the Iranian national team at the Friends Arena.[23]