Pressed Iranian minister meets with protests

It became messy when one of three licensed demonstrations against Zarif's visit began to move from the Mint Market Square in Stockholm towards the Foreign Ministry, Expressen reports. The magazine's TV pictures show chaotic scenes in which protesters are called back by both horse-borne police and police equipped with dogs and batons. In a movie clip, a police officer shows a moderate blow to the protesters, while at the same time two people appear to have fallen over on the ground in turmoil.

About 100 police officers are on the scene, according to Expressen. In the crowd, the Iranian flag used in the country before the Islamic Revolution in 1979 waved and protesters carried placards with messages such as "Zarif = Goebbels".

It is a strained Iranian Foreign Minister who visits Stockholm. Javad Zarif negotiated the global nuclear energy deal that would prevent his homeland from developing nuclear weapons. Now he is fighting for the agreement not to collapse completely.

- Zarif is on a round trip where he wants to secure Europe's clear support for the survival of the Iran agreement. This is the main point of the Swedish visit, notes Bitte Hammargren, Middle Eastern analyst at the Swedish Defense Research Institute (FOI).

- He himself is subject to sanctions from the US, for example, it is not clear if he can travel to the UN high-level week and speak at the General Assembly in September.

Javad Zarif arrives in Stockholm from Helsinki and will continue to Oslo tomorrow.

The reason the nuclear deal is so threatened is that US President Donald Trump last year backed away from it and reintroduced sanctions on Iran. The deal was concluded in 2015, when the United States was led by Trump's representative Barack Obama. It gave the outside world insight into Iran's nuclear energy program and lost it, in exchange for alleged financial sanctions.

Donald Trump already saw the deal as presidential candidate. But the other signatories to the agreement (France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China) want to stick with it and have ended up in something of a fox scissors because of Washington DC's sanctions.

"From the Swedish side, the survival of the Iran agreement is seen as essential for disarmament and relaxation," says Hammargren.

US sanctions are hitting hard on an already unsuccessful economy and it is clear that the Iranians are disappointed that European countries have failed to live up to the agreement's commitment to promote free trade. But European leaders, including Foreign Minister Margot Wallström, are also said to have some say in Iran's actions.

"There are things that Iran must do, such as measures to counteract money laundering," Hammargren said.

TT: What if the Iran agreement does not survive?

- Then the hardened forces in Iran will be strengthened even more. Javad Zarif has received very harsh criticism for the agreement at home. Last spring, he even filed his farewell application, but was allowed to stay.

Hammargren says that hard-hitting forces in Tehran have threatened to close the Hormuz Strait if Iran's shipping were to be blocked there. The same forces could also be ready to back out of the non-proliferation agreement (of nuclear weapons) in a tightened position. Should the US pressure increase, it could help harden and arch-conservative forces to gather nationalist support.

The next few months are therefore crucial. Tehran, on the one hand, is trying to buy time, with the idea that the United States will hold presidential elections next year, and on the other, do something about the sanctions that hit hard on the civilian population.

During the visit to Stockholm, Zarif will, among other things, meet Foreign Minister Margot Wallström (S), visit the Parliament, meet former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and give a lecture at the Peace Research Institute Sipri. He comes directly from Finland and travels to Norway after the visit to Sweden.

As a representative of a country that is severely criticized for lack of legal security and freedom of expression, discrimination against women and the application of torture and the death penalty, he is also forced to talk about this during his journey. From a blue-yellow perspective, the situation of the doomed Swede Kiran doctor Ahmadreza Djalali is specifically being lifted. Djalali was arrested in 2016, charged with conspiracy with Israel's intelligence service and sentenced to death the following year.

Following the unrest in the Strait of Hormuz this summer, when Iran seized several vessels - including the British-flagged Stena Impero owned by the Swedish Stena Bulk - the importance of free shipping is also learned.

Iranian Swede Said Mahmoudi, professor of international law and expert on marine law, says he expects Stena Impero to be released within a few days. This is because an Iranian oil tanker seized by the British Navy in July has now been allowed to leave Gibraltar.

- Since Stena Impero was a retaliation for Gibraltar, the problem will be solved, he tells TT.

- Then the question of the seizures is contrary to international law, which I believe they do, and what consequences it may have.