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A TEXT FROM TEHERAN ⟩ Sweden Identified Iran's Involvement Behind Information Attacks Linked to Quran Burnings

Photo: Oscar Olsson/TT News Agency/AFP/Scanpix
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The 15,000 Swedes who woke up last summer to a text message urging them to take revenge on those who burned the Quran were identified by Swedish prosecutors as victims of an Iranian intelligence operation.

In the early hours of August 1, 2023, at approximately 3:30 a.m., thousands of Swedes received a chilling message on their mobile phones. The message warned, "Those who have mocked the Quran must pay for their actions. We offer you the chance to send photos of retribution against these demons," accompanied by contact details for submitting images and the promise of a "special reward." The message was traced to a group calling itself the Anzu Team, which, according to the Swedish Security Service (Säpo), has direct ties to Iranian authorities.

Chief Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist, in a press release, elaborated: "The investigation reveals that the Iranian state, through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), orchestrated a data breach in a Swedish company overseeing a major SMS service. During the course of the investigation, we were able to identify the Iranian hackers responsible for this serious cyberattack."

Despite these findings, the investigation has been temporarily closed, as the suspects are located in Iran. Swedish prosecutors have determined that pursuing their arrest or extradition is currently unfeasible. "There are no individuals we can apprehend," Ljungqvist explained. However, with a ten-year statute of limitations on the crime, the case may be reopened if new opportunities for prosecution arise. Fewer than five hackers have been identified so far, according to Ljungqvist’s statement to TV4.

Säpo has concluded that the purpose of this Iranian-backed information operation, which coincided with Sweden’s NATO accession process, was to stoke tensions over the Quran burnings and deepen societal divisions.

These burnings also sparked large-scale anti-Swedish protests in Muslim-majority nations, but Säpo's operational chief, Fredrik Hallström, remarked that pinpointing Iran's exact role in these reactions is complex. "It’s difficult to isolate individual elements in a situation like this, but it’s clear that it helped refocus attention on Sweden. We can reasonably assume it contributed to the escalation of threats against the country," Hallström told the TT news agency.

The Quran burnings were exploited by many: Russia, Iran, Turkey, and possibly even China.

Henrik Häggström, Strategic Advisor at the Swedish Defense University

An investigation by Säpo uncovered that hackers from Iran's intelligence services exploited a vulnerability in the system of a Swedish IT company responsible for managing SMS services, successfully breaching it on July 21 of the previous year. Chief Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist told Dagens Nyheter that the hackers initially familiarized themselves with the system, gaining administrator privileges, usernames, and passwords. By the end of the month, they had seized sufficient control to initiate mass text message distribution through the company’s system.

The Iranian Embassy in Stockholm rejected Sweden's allegations, dismissing them as baseless, according to a report by Tasnim, a news agency closely associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard responded by summoning the Iranian ambassador over the cyberattack. "The fact that the Security Service believes a state actor—Iran, in this case—is behind attempts to destabilize Sweden or amplify polarization within our country is, of course, extremely serious and entirely unacceptable," she stated in a comment to Aftonbladet.

André Catry, a cybersecurity expert and former operative in Swedish military signals intelligence and Säpo, acknowledged the gravity of Iran's operation but noted that, from a technological standpoint, it was not particularly advanced. He told public broadcaster SVT that the mass messages likely did not change recipients' views but may have reinforced their existing opinions.

Henrik Häggström, strategic advisor at the Swedish Defense University and former head of the Middle East section at the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST), believed Iran’s actions had a noticeable impact on the broader context of tensions surrounding the Quran burnings. “This campaign delayed Sweden’s NATO accession,” Häggström told Dagens Nyheter, adding that other nations also sought to exploit the chaos. “Whenever Sweden or Western society shows vulnerability, foreign powers capitalize on it. The Quran burnings were leveraged by several actors: Russia, Iran, Turkey, and possibly even China.”

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