The defendants, aged between 15 and 18, are accused of targeting Arvin Khoshnood, a vocal supporter of Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah. According to the prosecution, one of the accused, then 16, rang the doorbell at Khoshnood's home in Malmo on September 2, 2025, armed with a knife. Khoshnood's wife opened the door, and the teenager asked if her husband was home, the charge sheet states.
Khoshnood stayed out of sight and immediately called police. Prosecutors say the teenager was recruited via encrypted messaging apps by his co-defendants with the promise of payment if he killed Khoshnood. Three of the accused and a fourth person believed to be the mastermind gave him instructions, provided the knife, and negotiated the terms of his 'contract'.
The identity of the mastermind has not been established. Three of the five are charged with attempted murder, and the others with complicity. Prosecutor Per-Erik Rinsell described the case as an example of 'crime as a service', where young perpetrators take on assignments from organized crime.
Khoshnood believes the attack was organized by Foxtrot, a Swedish criminal gang whose leader Rawa Majid has ties to the Iranian government. Foxtrot is behind several shootings, bombings, and murders in Sweden and uses social media to recruit children. The Swedish Security Service, Sapo, has called Iran one of the main threats to Sweden's security and has accused it of recruiting Swedish criminal gangs to commit violence against Israeli interests and Iranian opposition figures.
Iran has denied the accusation. According to Sapo, the Middle East war has increased the threat against US, Israeli, and Jewish interests in Sweden. One of the teenagers charged in the Khoshnood case is also accused of planning to blow up the headquarters of Aimpoint, a Malmo-based firm that invented the red-dot gun sight and ended sales to Israel in May 2025 due to the war in Gaza.
These acts fall under 'crime as a service', where young perpetrators take on assignments from organized crime.
In a separate case, two young men, aged 19 and 20, have been charged with attempted murder after a teenage boy was attacked with a machete in Vinterviken, Stockholm, on December 4 last year. The victim's hand was severed and he suffered severe cutting injuries to one leg. According to the indictment, the attack involved repeated hacking with a machete, partly aimed at the neck.
The investigation found the motive was revenge for an assault on one of the accused in September 2025. Prosecutor Emma Hilmersson told TT that there is a connection between people close to the victim and the September 2025 assault, based on phone data. Both defendants deny the crime.
On Monday, a massive brawl involving around 40 teenagers erupted near the Munktellarena sports facility in Eskilstuna, resulting in multiple stabbings. Swedish outlet TV4 reported that four teens were sent to a hospital. A witness told Aftonbladet that a 20-on-20 person fight broke out between teens who were smoking together, and it ended quickly after three teens were slashed.
Police sent drones and dogs out and set up barriers. Police spokesperson Dennis Strömberg Johansson said the crime classification is attempted murder. According to TV4, the knife fight broke out between two rival youth gangs.
A police spokesperson said, according to Reuters, that there is no information that this is related to terrorism. Officials reportedly confirmed there was no shooting, despite initial concern. The four injured teens are all ninth-graders at Årbyskolan in Eskilstuna, TV4 reported.
The hunt continues for more perpetrators.
Three were stabbed in the upper body. A surgeon said, per Region Sörmland press officer Fredrik Gustavsson, that two were seriously hurt while the other two had less severe injuries. Initial reports suggested the incident happened at a school, but it was later revealed it happened off school grounds.
At least another three teenagers have been arrested in connection to the incident, TV4 reported, though the charges have not been specified. Sweden has seen an increase in violence by criminal gangs, with 391 shootings in 2022, 62 of them fatal, and 131 shootings so far this year, 15 fatal. Also on Monday, a boy was attacked outside an apartment building by masked people.
m. The boy ran from the scene and was found near a grocery store, police spokesman Daniel Wikdahl said. The teenager was taken to hospital by ambulance and was conscious.
Police searched with dogs and cordoned off the area, but no arrests have been made. In a separate stabbing on Thursday evening, a man in his 20s was found seriously injured in Gröndal in southern Stockholm and taken to hospital. SVT News Stockholm reports that a person of the same age has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
com, police officer Ida Abrahamsson described the hunt for more perpetrators as ongoing. Police spokesperson Ola Österling previously told TT that the crime tool is believed to be a larger knife.