“The Swedish national has been detained on charges of spying. Preliminary investigations are underway. There is a possibility that other charges will be brought against the individual later,” said Massoud Setayeshi in a presser on Tuesday in Tehran.
The arrest was announced by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry late last month.
The unidentified Swedish citizen had been under surveillance during several earlier trips to the Islamic Republic before being detained.
The Swedish citizen is said to have established links with a number of other European and non-European suspects in Iran. The individual had a history of travelling to the Israeli-occupied territories prior to visits to the Islamic Republic.
The arrest has fueled diplomatic tensions between Tehran and Stockholm, which first broke out after Sweden arrested ex-Iranian official Hamid Nouri in 2019.
In mid-July, a life sentence was handed over to Nouri based on what Iranian authorities call unfounded allegations made by the notorious Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group.
Elsewhere in his comments, Setayeshi said Nouri was being held under “the harshest conditions.”
“The court ruling has not yet been conveyed to Hamid Nouri in Persian, while the deadline for appealing the verdict is drawing near,” he said.
The official added, “We expect the Swedish government and judicial system not to make excuses for [preventing] Nouri from exercising its fundamental rights,” unlike what happened in the preliminary court.
