STOCKHOLM: Iran has executed a Swedish citizen as authorities announced the execution of a man convicted of espionage for the first time since the war against Israel and the United States, Sweden’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.Maria Malmö-Steinagaard told AFP she learned late on Tuesday that the sentence might be carried out.“Of course we immediately contacted Tehran and I tried to arrange a meeting with my counterpart to ask him for an immediate moratorium on executions, but unfortunately he was not available,” she told AFP.She did not reveal the identities of the citizens who were executed.Previously, the Iranian judicial news agency Mizan Online stated that a man named Kouroush Keyvani was executed for espionage activities by Israel. He was arrested during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June last year.It laid out details of alleged meetings with agents of Israel’s Mossad spy agency and said he had received training in “six European countries and Tel Aviv.”It was the first such execution publicly announced since Israel and the United States launched an attack on Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggering a war that spread across the Middle East.The man obtained Swedish citizenship in 2019. When asked about the reason for traveling to Iran, Stanagaard declined to comment. Since his arrest, “we have done everything we can to try to change the situation. We are in contact at all levels in Stockholm and Tehran,” she said.– access denied –Sweden has made multiple requests for consular visits. “But Iran did not consider this person a Swedish citizen and therefore did not allow him to enter,” Steinergaard said.“This certainly complicates our ability to obtain information,” she added.In a separate statement, she said she was “dismayed” to receive news of the execution.She added in the statement: “It is clear to us that the legal proceedings that led to the execution of a Swedish citizen were not in compliance with the rule of law.”According to the NGO Iran for Human Rights (IHR), two more people were hanged in 2026 after being convicted of espionage: Ali Ardestani on January 7 and Hamidreza Sabet Esmailpour on January 28. The NGO documented at least 13 similar executions in 2025. During last year’s 12-day war, scores of people were arrested on charges of spying for Israel. Significant questions remain about the fate of prisoners currently held in Iran.The IHR warns: “Recent statements by heads of justice…have heightened concerns about the possible promulgation and rapid execution of the death penalty for espionage offenses.” Iran has arrested hundreds of people in recent days on suspicion of collusion with Israel and the United States, local media reported. On Sunday, Police Chief Ahmad-Reza Radan spoke of the arrest of 500 people suspected of espionage, saying it “sends a message to enemies and anti-Iranian media.” Another Swedish-Iranian, Ahmadreza Djalali, has been imprisoned in Iran for nearly 10 years. In 2017, he was convicted of working with Mossad.
