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Sweden accuses Iran, Russia of spreading misinformation about Quran burnings
Sweden's defense minister told journalists that the country's interests are the 'target of foreign targeted information influence campaigns'
Sweden’s Minister for Civil Defense Carl-Oskar Bohlin on Tuesday said there are “clear connections” between actors in Iran and Russia and the “misinformation” spreading about the Quran burnings in Sweden.
According to Sweden’s national broadcaster SVT, Bohlin told journalists that Swedish interests “are still the target of foreign targeted information influence campaigns from Russia and Iran, among others.”
The minister noted that the “actors who were active in the campaign against the social services have partly switched to spreading misinformation about Quran burnings,” referring to the influence campaign directed against Swedish social services that began in late 2021.
The minister added that the country must be united against these operations. Several acts of desecration of the holy book in recent months sparked anger in the Muslim world, including Iran, which in protest summoned the Swedish ambassador in Tehran.
Earlier in July, the Swedish defense ministry said that “certain actors outside Sweden are spreading and perpetuating false claims that the Swedish State is behind the desecration of copies of holy scriptures.”
The Swedish government had previously condemned the desecration of Islam’s holy book by far-right activists in Stockholm, calling it an “Islamophobic” act. It had also expanded the Psychological Defense Agency’s mission to include the consequences of the Quran burnings, according to SVT.