Sweden says Iran hacked text messaging service following 2023 Quran burnings

Authorities in Sweden said on Tuesday (Sept 24) that Iran hacked into a text messaging service following incidents of burning of the Quran (the holy book of Islam)in Sweden last year.

In 2023, individuals in Sweden on severaloccasions set fire to the Quran, prompting outrage in the Muslim world andraising fears of attacks by extremists. Following these incidents, the Swedish government raised its terrorism alert.

According to Swedish prosecutors, Iran's intelligence service hacked the SMS operator last yearto send messages encouraging people to take revenge on protesters who had burned the holy book.

'Revenge against Quran burners'

In a statement, Sweden's prosecution authority said that around 15,000messages called for revenge against Quran burners. "The aim was to create division in Swedish society," the prosecution authority said.

In a separate statement, Sweden'sintelligence service Sapo said it had determined that a hacker group had acted "on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to carry out an influence campaign."

"The aim was, among other things, to paint the picture ofSwedenas an Islamophobic country," Sapo added.

Which group was behind the hacking?

Swedish prosecutors saidan investigation had shown that a group called Anzu team was behind the hacking. Theyaddedthat the investigation had been closed,as it was deemed unlikely that it would be possible to bring the suspects to justice.

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"Since the actors are acting on behalf of a foreign power, in this case, Iran, our assessment is that the conditions necessary to bring charges abroad or an extradition toSwedenare missing for those suspected of being behind the attack," senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist told the news agency AFP.

The straining relations

Swedenand Iran's relations havestrained in recent years, with one of the main sticking points beingStockholm's arrest and conviction of Hamid Noury.

Noury, an Iranian former prison official, was arrested at the Stockholm airport in November 2019 and sentenced to life in prison in July 2022 for his role in mass killings in Iranian jails in 1988.

In June, the countries announced a prisoner swapin which Noury was releasedinSwedenin exchange for a European Union diplomat and a second Swede.

The two Swedes were EU diplomat Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi, a Swedish national arrested in Iran in November 2023.

(With inputs from agencies)