Sweden Arrests Iraqi Journalist Alleged to be Spying for Iran

According to British media, Swedish police have arrested an Iraqi journalist said to be doubling as an Iranian spy. Raghdan al-Khazali was detained on suspicion of “spying on members of an Ahwazi opposition group, which has been repeatedly targeted by Iranian assassins in Europe.” In this respect, Tehran came under fire last October for allegedly plotting to target three members of a separatist group living in Denmark. That same month, the French government seized the assets of an Iranian ministry and two individuals linked to a failed attack on a dissident group near Paris. An Austria-based Iranian diplomat was among those arrested for planning to bomb the event, a scheme reportedly masterminded by Iran’s director-general for intelligence. For its part, the Netherlands contends that Iranian agents killed two dissidents on its soil, first in 2015 and then two years later. Meanwhile, the European Union, along with Russia and China, has for months been attempting to salvage the 2015 nuclear pact with Iran by devising a so-called Special Purpose Vehicle that would allow continued non-dollar trade with the Islamic Republic, thereby circumventing American sanctions.