Analysis: Pressed Foreign Minister tries to save the Iran agreement

Iran's survival is at the top of the agenda when Iran's foreign minister visits Sweden. Four years have passed since people flocked to the streets of Tehran to celebrate that the country would open up more to the outside world. Years of negotiations had ended, and EU Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said the world had become a safer place with the promise that Iran would not develop nuclear weapons.

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is one of the architects of the agreement. Now he is on a round trip to seek Europe's support, and his visit to Sweden is characterized by the increasingly tense relations between Iran and the US and the escalated situation in the Persian Gulf.

Since the US abandoned the international nuclear agreement with Iran over a year ago, relations between the countries have deteriorated sharply. The United States has imposed new sanctions on the country, and in June this year, US President Donald Trump said the US was "ten minutes from a war with Iran" after a US drone was shot down by Iran.

During the summer, Iran seized several tanker vessels in the sensitive Strait of Hormuz, including the Swedish-owned Stena Impero owned by Stena Bulk. In addition, an Iranian oil tanker has been stopped by the British Navy off Gibraltar.

Sweden will address the fate of the Swedish-owned tanker during Zarif's visit. At the same time, the Swedish government is being asked to participate in a US-led international effort to strengthen security in the Hormuz Strait. According to sources SVT talked to, the government has not yet decided whether to participate in the intervention force.

The list of talking points is long when Iran's foreign minister arrives at Arvfursten's palace today. On the agenda stands the sentenced physician Ahmadreza Djalali who was arrested in 2016. Djalali, a Swedish and Iranian citizen, is charged with conspiring with the Israeli intelligence service. According to the Foreign Ministry, human rights will also be discussed, as will Iran's role in an increasingly troubled Middle East and the country's relationship with Israel.

When the United States left the nuclear deal last year, the other signatories France, Germany, Britain Russia and China made it clear that they want to stick to the agreement. EU law allows European countries to do business with Iran. The problem is getting paid because the banks involved risk being penalized by US authorities. This means that Swedish large companies' trade with Iran has also been cross-referenced.

Scania, which a couple of years ago had its biggest bus market in Iran, today has only a few employees left in the country. The increasingly tightened tone between the US and Iran has strengthened Iran's more hard-hitting forces when hopes of an improved economy have not been met. At the same time as Zarif embarked on a tour of the Nordic countries, sharp criticism of the nuclear energy agreement is being targeted at home in Iran.

One of Iran's top leaders' advisers says in an interview with NBC News that Iran would never have signed the agreement. Javad Zarif arrives in Stockholm from Helsinki and on Wednesday goes to Oslo.