Five teenagers went on trial in Sweden today for the alleged attempted murder of a dissident Iranian researcher.
The victim, Arvin Khoshnood, a supporter of the son of the last Shah of Iran, maintains that the attack was ordered by a criminal network at the behest of Iranian authorities.
The trial, held behind closed doors at the Gothenburg district court, started with a presentation of the charges against the five, Khoshnood’s lawyer, Sylvia Strid, told AFP.
The youths are aged between 15 and 17. Three are charged with attempted murder, and the others of complicity.
According to the prosecution, on September 2, 2025, one of the teens, armed with a knife, rang the bell at Khoshnood’s home in the southern city of Malmo.
Khoshnood’s wife opened the door, and the youth, 16 at the time, asked if her husband was home.
Having been threatened in the past, Khoshnood “immediately had a gut feeling that something was wrong,” Strid said.
“He told his wife to close the door, then he took a picture of the boy, which proved crucial to the investigation. He really had a guardian angel. Their young children were also in the house,” Strid added.
Khoshnood was not injured. But since then he has been living in hiding at another address.
“He is under enormous pressure, and the whole family is as well, since they had to flee their home and their lives,” the lawyer said.
But she added that they were “in a better situation” now, having been given “protected housing and have good support from colleagues”.
The teenager was recruited through messaging apps by the other defendants and promised a payment to kill Khoshnood, prosecutors say.
They say three of the accused, and a fourth person believed to be the mastermind — whose identity has not been established — gave instructions, provided the knife and negotiated the terms of his “contract”.
“These are acts that fall under so-called crime as a service, where young perpetrators in Sweden take on assignments from individuals connected to organised crime,” prosecutor Per-Erik Rinsell said in a statement.
Khoshnood believes the attack was organised by Foxtrot, one of Sweden’s main criminal gangs whose leader Rawa Majid is reported to have ties to the Iranian government.
“It is the only reasonable motive here,” Strid stressed.
Foxtrot is behind several shootings, bombings and murders carried out in Sweden in recent years. Like other gangs, it uses a social media to recruit children to carry out crimes.
Khoshnood regularly appears in Swedish media as an expert on Iran.
On social media, he supports Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah, who lives in exile in the United States and leads one of many opposition movements based abroad.
The Swedish Security Service (Sapo) has called Iran one of the main threats to the country’s security.
In particular, Sapo has accused Iran of using Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli interests and Iranian opposition figures in Sweden — a claim Iran has denied.
According to Sapo, the Middle East war has increased the threat against US, Israeli and Jewish interests in the country.
One of the teenagers charged in the Khoshnood case is also accused of planning to blow up the headquarters of Malmo-based firm Aimpoint, which invented the red-dot gun sight.
The Swedish company has drawn media attention over past business dealings with Israel. Aimpoint ended the sales in May 2025 due to the war being waged by Israel in Gaza.
Several of the accused also face charges over an attempted murder in the city of Uddevalla a week after the alleged attempt on Khoshnood’s life.
