Iran

The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions against the Foxtrot Network, a Sweden-based gang accused of carrying out attacks against Israeli interests in Europe on behalf of Iran.

Describing Foxtrot as one of Sweden's "most notorious criminal gangs," the U.S. Treasury and State Departments also placed sanctions on its leader Rawa Majid, with both agencies saying in statements that he had "specifically cooperated with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security."

"Iran's brazen use of transnational criminal organizations and narcotics traffickers underscores the regime's attempts to achieve its aims through any means, with no regard for the cost to communities across Europe," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

The sanctions, which usually include asset freezes and U.S. entry bans, were issued in line with President Donald Trump's reinstated "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran, the agencies said.

Sweden's Sapo intelligence service announced last May that it believed Iran had recruited Swedish criminal gang members as proxies to commit "acts of violence" against Israeli and other interests in Sweden.

That announcement came weeks after nighttime gunfire was reported outside Israel's embassy in Stockholm, and three months after police found a live grenade lying on the grounds of the Israeli compound.

At the time, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that both Majid's Foxtrot and arch-rival gang Rumba had been recruited by the Iranian regime, citing documents from Israel's intelligence agency Mossad.

DN said the Mossad documents showed Majid — a Swedish-Turkish dual national nicknamed the "Kurdish Fox" — had been arrested in Iran and ordered to cooperate with the Iranian regime or go to jail.

Later, in October, the embassy was hit by gunfire, while the day after two explosions occurred near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen. Swedish nationals have been arrested over the suspected grenade attack, according to Danish police.

The attacks in Europe last year occurred as tensions soared between Iran and Israel over the devastating war in Gaza.

But Sweden has struggled to contain surging gang violence in recent years, with shootings and bombings frequently occurring across the country.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the idea of holding negotiations with the United States over a nuclear deal, as a letter arrived from U.S. President Donald Trump calling for such talks.

Trump said last week he had sent a letter to Khamenei proposing nuclear talks but also warning that "there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal" preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The letter was handed over to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Wednesday by Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates.

While Araqchi and Gargash were meeting, Khamenei told a group of university students that Trump's offer for talks was "a deception aimed at misleading public opinion," state media reported.

"When we know they won't honor it, what's the point of negotiating? Therefore, the invitation to negotiate ... is a deception of public opinion," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state media.

Khamenei said negotiating with the Trump administration, which he said has excessive demands, "will tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran."

In 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. Tehran reacted a year later by violating the deal's nuclear curbs.

Khamenei, who has the final word in Iranian state matters, said last week that Tehran would not be bullied into talks with "excessive demands" and threats.

The UAE, one of Washington's key Middle East security partners and host to U.S. troops, also maintains warm ties with Tehran. Despite past tensions, business and trade links between the two countries have remained strong, and Dubai has served as a key commercial hub for Iran for more than a century.

While leaving the door open for a nuclear pact with Tehran, Trump has reinstated the "maximum pressure" campaign he applied in his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports towards zero.

Iran has long denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.

"If we wanted to build nuclear weapons, the U.S. would not be able to stop it. We ourselves do not want it," Khamenei said.

However, Iran's stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, has jumped, the International Atomic Energy Agency said late last month.

Separately, Araqchi denounced a closed-door U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday about Iran's nuclear work as a new process that puts in doubt the goodwill of the states requesting it.

Six of the council's 15 members — France, Greece, Panama, South Korea, Britain and the U.S. — requested the meeting over Iran's expansion of its stock of close to weapons-grade uranium.

Araqchi said Iran would soon have a fifth round of talks with France, Britain and Germany — parties to Iran's 2015 nuclear pact.

"Our talks with Europeans have been ongoing and will continue ... however, any decision by the U.N. Security Council or board of governors of the U.N. nuclear watchdog to pressure us will put under question the legitimacy of these talks," Araqchi said according to state media.

Separately, the Chinese foreign ministry said China and Russia will hold talks with Iranian officials in Beijing on Friday to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue.