Swedish-Iranian MP Alireza Akhondi Joins Forces With UANI To Expose Swedish Companies’ Ties To Iranian Regime

(Stockholm, Sweden / New York, N.Y.) – Coinciding with the one year anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s murder at the hands of the Islamic Republic’s morality police on September 16, elected Member of the Swedish Riksdag Alireza Akhondi and United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) have launched a new campaign that will unmask Swedish companies doing business in Iran. Akhondi also serves as an advisor on European policy for UANI.

New research conducted by #StopIRGCDeals, the campaign vehicle launched by UANI, has identified a list of major Swedish companies with unexplained business ties to Iran. These companies have been contacted and given the opportunity to clarify the nature of their trade with the regime. 

On 11am, 28 September at the Riksdag in RÖ2- Mittpoolen in Stockholm, Alireza Akhondi and UANI’s CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace will host a public event where they will reveal the names of major Swedish companies who are unable or unwilling to explain their ties to the Islamic Republic. In a change from UANI’s annual summit, this will be the first stop of a campaign across leading capitals in Europe warning of business risks. 

The Islamic Republic exerts control over every facet of the Iranian economy, especially through the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). International companies trading with Iran inevitably end up doing business with, and thereby provide financial support to, a pariah regime. Despite this well-documented risk, some companies continue to put profit over principle. 

According to Alireza Akhondi and UANI, Swedish companies have a particular responsibility to cut ties to the Islamic Republic. In addition to the regime’s brutal reaction to the peaceful Woman, Life, Freedom demonstrations that followed Mahsa Amini’s murder and the Islamic Republic’s extensive military support for Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine, Tehran also continues to ramp up its hostility towards Sweden specifically. 

Johan Floderus, the 33 year old Swedish national and EU employee, has been imprisoned by the regime on baseless charges for over 500 days and counting. That is not to mention Swedish national Ahmadreza Djalali who is facing a death sentence in the Islamic Republic as a hostage. Sweden’s security intelligence service, Säkerhetspolisen, has also repeatedly warned of Tehran’s large-scale industrial espionage operations and campaigns of intimidation targeting minority groups on Swedish soil. Akhondi and UANI believe this is more than sufficient grounds for all Swedish companies to immediately cut ties with the Islamic Republic and IRGC.  

Commenting on the campaign’s launch, Alireza Akhondi said: 

“When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, many companies withdrew from doing business in the country. In addition to its violent oppression of its own citizens, we know that Iran is a country that sends weapons and drones to Russians killing innocent Ukrainians. As Tehran’s hostility shows no sign of decreasing, we must raise questions about Sweden’s business ties with Iran and offer companies the opportunity to put themselves on the right side of history”.

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United Against Nuclear Iran is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organisation formed to highlight the dangers posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Please visit its website here: https://www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com/

To find out more about the IRGC, please visit https://www.irgcterrorists.net

For media enquiries or further information, please contact roisin.nichionna@redflag.global

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