Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards are exploiting partnerships between Swedish and Iranian universities to acquire research and technology for their military programs, according to a new investigation by a US-based NGO.
Unbeknownst to Swedish authorities, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) says the IRGC has full access “to all collaborative work product between Iranian universities and their international academic partners”.
The partnerships in question involve at least eight Swedish universities – among them prestigious institutions like Lund University and Uppsala University.
"It is a significant national security issue, and Swedish universities should immediately sever any partnerships with Iranian universities given the risks of such collaboration, which may appear benign on the surface but which can be misused by the IRGC and security institutions in the Islamic Republic," UANI Policy Director Jason Brodsky told Iran International English.
In a letter alerting the Swedish government, UANI CEO Mark Wallace warned the country’s Education Minister that “any collaboration with an Iranian university will support the IRGC and other armed regime elements to further the Islamic Republic’s military program and the IRGC’s nefarious hard and soft power capabilities.”
The IRGC, the country’s paramilitary force, is subject to EU sanctions, and is a US-designated terrorist entity.
Letters outlining the NGO’s findings were signed by Wallace and Alireza Akhondi, a Swedish politician representing the Center Party, and were sent to the universities in question.
“Members of Parliament have summoned the Swedish education minister for questioning,” Brodsky said, adding that Swedish policymakers are taking UANI's investigation seriously.
Alongside the European Jewish Association, Europe Israel Public Affairs the UANI outlined its findings at the Swedish Parliament on Tuesday.
How the IRGC Exploits University Collaborations
Sweden, however, is not the only NATO member state, whose academic institutions have reportedly been targeted by the IRGC.
Last year, the UANI revealed that several top German universities partnered with an Iranian university linked to IRGC and Hezbollah, known for backing terrorist attacks on Israel.
Findings by the Jewish Chronicle in 2023, showed that scientists at 11 British universities helped the Iranian regime develop technology that can be used in its drone programme and fighter jets.
UANI's findings suggest that a strategic agreement was implemented in February 2021 between the IRGC and Iranian universities, exposing any collaborating academic institution to vulnerability.
The accord was implemented by the country’s Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution (SCCR) – overseen and led by the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The body, which sets Iran’s policies on cultural and educational matters, including the mandated hijab, faces several international EU and UK sanctions for gross human rights violations.
The SCCR’s accord mandates the transfer of all research and academic materials' intellectual property and rights to the IRGC and other regime entities – and is reportedly enforced across all Iranian universities.
Called the "Comprehensive Act on Science and Technology in the Defense and Security Field of the Islamic Republic of Iran," its aim is to acquire defense and security sciences and technologies.
UANI says that the agreement specifies that research obtained from universities is to be used for “hostility with enemies in the path of achieving the scientific defense goals of the Islamic Revolution” – and that it may be used against Sweden.
“Given the recently obtained evidence revealed by UANI’s investigation, any partnership with an Iranian university directly benefits the IRGC and other armed elements of the Iranian regime, posing a significant threat of espionage and exploitation,” the UANI CEO said.
The academic disciplines in which the Swedish universities collaborate with Iranian counterparts, the UANI said, align precisely with the IRGC's primary focuses for defense and security, as outlined in the strategic agreement.
These areas include automated and unmanned equipment (drones), aerospace propulsion systems, artificial intelligence, advanced warfare software and military science and technology, advanced electronics, energy, and cyber electronics.
Student exchanges organized under these partnerships also raise concerns about potential exploitation by the IRGC and other regime entities for malign purposes, the UANI found.
UANI says the universities involved in these collaborations are Malmo University, University of Boras, Lund University, Lulea University of Technology, Mid Sweden University, Uppsala University, Linnaeus University, and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
The constitutional weight of the adoption of the report cannot be exaggerated for it is non-binding for the government and the government could very well never re-introduce any bill for its implementation. Politically, however, the unanimous adoption of the report marks a step forward in Canada’s sluggish progress to designate IRGC as a terrorist entity.
The report paves the way for the introduction of Bill-350, State Immunity Act, as a set of amendments to the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act proposed by MP Hon. Garnett Genius. Whether or not the governing Liberals step up to the plate and designate IRGC as a terrorist organization, it is abundantly clear that the Trudeau government has already crossed Rubicon of confronting the Iranian regime, be it through going after IRGC and its special forces branch, the Quds Force, or via tackling the Canadian network of the relatives of the Iranian regime’s ruling echelon.
The burning question is whether the next step to tackle the IRGC and its active measures operatives in Canada will transpire in the form of both actionable legislation and action on behalf of the Canadian RCMP, CSIS, and Canada’s financial crime and FATF enforcement institutions. Indeed, Canada-Iran relations have gone through four distinct period since 2012.
The first period dates back to parliamentary debates on the question of designating IRGC in its entirety as a early as 29 March 2012, when Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper were at the helm. These debates took place in the context of a surge in human right violations by the Iranian regimes; starting with the death of Iranian Canadian Zahra Kazemi at the hands of the Iranian security forces in 2003 and the regime’s brutal suppression of 2009 presidential election protests.
Harper’s government implemented a series of measures that emerged in the form a comprehensive diplomatic confrontation against the Islamic regime of Iran. From cutting all diplomatic relations with the Iranian by closing the Canadian embassy in Tehran to designating IRGC’s Quds Force as a terrorist organization. However, Harper’s government did not go beyond these measures and only did join the UN mandated international sanctions against the Iranian regime concerning its nuclear program. Moreover, Harper’s government did nothing to stop former members of the ruling elite and/or IRGC top brass relatives from calling Canada home through various visa schemes made available to them through Canada’s Immigration system.
With Trudeau’s liberals taking over in November 2015, the government of Canada did not seek to undo the measure taken by the previous the conservative government but did not seem to have done anything to put into action any of those measures in a concrete manner. Indeed, the Canadian Senate considered bill S-219 (An Act to deter Iran-sponsored terrorism, incitement to hatred, and human rights violations) in February 2016 that would designate IRGC as a terrorist entity in its entirety.
Then, in 2018, the very MP Hon. Genius did sponsor another non-binding motion 018 to designate IRGC as a terrorist. For reasons that still befuddle most observers, the government, which enjoyed an overwhelming majority at the time, defeated the motion.
Without getting bogged down in the minutia of the history of this period, the turning point that galvanized the Iranian-Canadian community to pressure Trudeau’s government into concrete action was January 2020 shot-down of Ukrainian PS752 passenger airliner with 63 Canadians on board and almost a dozen more Canadian permanent residents by the IRGC air-defense batteries. From this point onward the liberal government began to adopt more concrete actions, starting with a series of sanctions against IRGC top brass and other high-ranking members of the Iranian regime.
However, the government stopped short of taking any concrete action from preventing the regime officials’ relatives from settling in Canada, nor did it introduce a Magnitsky style act for the Iranian regime officials who had profited from human rights violations.
The fourth period starts with Iran’s autumn 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising and continues to date. The government began to roll out new sanctions against Iranian officials implicated in the brutal uprising culminating public consultation to stop the former officials and their relatives to use the proceeds of their crime for settling and/or investing in Canada. As of 2023, with Immigration Canada joining in the action by deporting several former senior regime officials, Canada seems to be gearing up for more concrete punitive actions against the Iranian regime.
Today’s vote thus marks a point of no return for Trudeau liberals. First, in the 2018 vote that defeated a similar motion by MP Genius, the two Iranian Canadian MPs Messrs Ali Ehssasi and Majid Jowhari were conspicuously absent from the vote. Today, however, both were present. In so far as speculation goes, it is likely that the gentlemen chose not to attend the session as they did not wish to vote “yes” against the wishes of a government, and one might say PM Trudeau, that was determined to defeat the motion.
Also in 2018, Trudeau’s government enjoyed a comfortable majority, which it no longer enjoys, and it may soon have to face Iranian-Canadians at the ballot box in a general election. The government can also no longer ignore reports of threats against Canadians by the Iranian regime on Canadian soil. Thus, whether or not Trudeau’s government would take action and pass Genius’ Bill-352 into legislation, with this motion it can longer remain sit on its hands and do nothing further. In the end, the winds of change may force it to do so as it will set sails soon for another election campaign.