Iran has ordered a Swedish diplomat to leave Tehran within 48 hours, a day after Sweden expelled an Iranian embassy official from Stockholm in a rapidly escalating diplomatic dispute between the two countries. The tit-for-tat expulsions mark the latest episode in a long-running deterioration of relations between Iran and Sweden.
Sweden's Ministry for Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday that an Iranian diplomat had been asked to leave the country for conducting activities "incompatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations" — the 1961 international treaty that governs the rules and conduct of diplomatic missions. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the decision was taken to protect Swedish citizens and interests, while Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer indicated the measures were linked to Iran's alleged activities targeting "Jewish and Israeli interests" inside Sweden. He added that Iran had been "making use of criminal networks" over an extended period to pursue objectives that threaten Swedish security.
Tehran responded swiftly and defiantly. Iran's director general for Western Europe, Alireza Yousefi, summoned the Swedish ambassador in Tehran on Thursday to deliver the reciprocal expulsion order and formally protest what he described as Sweden's "destructive policies" and its hosting of anti-Iranian groups. Iran's Foreign Ministry called Sweden's original move "unjustified" and "baseless," attributing it to alleged Israeli influence and framing it as an attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of the Iranian embassy in Stockholm. Tehran also warned that any such disruption would engage Sweden's international responsibility under international law.
The confrontation is rooted in a broader pattern of tensions. In July 2025, Sweden joined several European countries, the United States and Canada in formally accusing Iran of orchestrating plots to threaten, abduct and harass dissidents, journalists and activists living abroad. Relations had already been strained by high-profile legal cases: in 2019, Swedish authorities arrested Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian prison official, at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport under the principle of universal jurisdiction. He was later convicted for his role in the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran in 1988 and sentenced to life in prison. In June 2024, two Swedish citizens — Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi — were released in a prisoner exchange for Nouri.
The mutual expulsions signal that the underlying tensions are far from resolved. With both sides invoking the Vienna Convention and exchanging accusations of bad faith, the episode reflects the wider breakdown in trust between Iran and several Western governments over alleged Iranian intelligence operations on European soil.