Trump admin cracks down on groups tied to Iran targeting US citizens, sanctions Iranian-linked Swedish gang

The Trump administration unveiled new sanctions on Wednesday against an Iranian-linked Swedish gang that coordinated an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm in January 2024, according to the Treasury Department. 

The sanctions freeze assets for members and those affiliated with the Foxtrot Network, a transnational criminal organization that the Treasury Department said is one of the most “prominent” drug trafficking organizations in the region. The sanctions also single out and target the group’s fugitive leader, Rawa Majid. 

“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,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a Wednesday statement. “Treasury, alongside our U.S. government and international partners, will continue to hold accountable those who seek to further Iran’s thuggish and destabilizing agenda.”

TRUMP REINSTATES ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN 

In addition to trafficking drugs, the Foxtrot Network is a criminal organization that conducts violent acts, including shootings, contract killings and assaults, and is responsible for increased violence in Sweden. It is notorious for employing teenagers to conduct these violent acts, according to the Treasury Department. 

Iran has increasingly utilized criminal networks to conduct attacks targeting the U.S. as well as attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe, the Treasury Department said. 

For example, the agency accused Iran of colluding with the Foxtrot Network to conduct an attack on the Israeli Embassy in 2024 after Swedish officials identified a “dangerous object” believed to be an explosive device at the embassy. While security forces neutralized the device, Sweden’s security police moved to investigate the attack as a “terrorist crime,” according to Reuters. 

The Treasury Department also said on Wednesday that Majid has coordinated with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, which is already under U.S. sanctions, and faces charges in Sweden pertaining to narcotics and firearms trafficking. 

The White House referred Fox News Digital to the Treasury and State Department’s statements on the sanctions. 

The sanctions against Majid and the Foxtrot Network align with President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran, which he reinstated in February through a series of sanctions aimed at sinking Iran’s oil exports.

TRUMP SAYS ‘SOMETHING’S GOING TO HAPPEN VERY SOON’ WITH IRAN AS HE PUSHES TO NEGOTIATE NUCLEAR DEAL 

Trump signaled Friday a nuclear deal with Iran could emerge shortly, and he revealed that he sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to push for Tehran to agree to a nuclear agreement. Otherwise, he said Tehran could count on facing military consequences. 

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“I would rather negotiate a deal,” Trump told Fox Business in an interview Sunday. “I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily.” 

“But the time is happening now, the time is coming up,” he said. “Something is going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran, and I’ve written them a letter saying I hope you’re going to negotiate, because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them.”