Iran has recruited young children to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets across Europe, a new trend amid a series of attacks on Iranian proxies in recent months and declining influence in the Middle East.
The troubling pattern includes incidents in Sweden, Belgium and Norway as Tehran expands its proxy war against Israel in Europe.
In Stockholm, a 15-year-old boy with a loaded gun took a taxi in May and asked to be taken to the Israeli Embassy. However, when he was unable to locate the building he had to call a colleague for directions. Swedish police stopped the cab before it reached the destination.
Iran is hiding missile, drone programs under the guise of commercial front to avoid sanctions
Police officers are seen after a hand grenade was found outside the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm on January 31, 2024. (Getty Images)
The authorities had been keeping an eye on him for several months.
A 13-year-old boy was caught opening fire at Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems in Gothenburg. At the same facility, a 16-year-old boy helped plant homemade explosives outside the main entrance, Bloomberg reports.
In Brussels, security services discovered that children as young as 14 were attacking the Israeli embassy.
Fox News Digital has contacted the Iranian mission in the United States for comment.
According to Peter Nesser, a terrorism researcher at the Norwegian Defense Research Institute, recruiters working on behalf of the Iranian regime have reached out to minors on platforms such as Telegram, TikTok or WhatsApp.
The new strategy comes as Iran’s influence in the Middle East has been severely weakened amid Israel’s deadly response to devastating attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah, both Iranian proxies.
Israel eyes Iran’s nuclear sites amid reports of Trump considering steps to stop Tehran’s nuclear program
Sweden’s Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, second left, with Norwegian Justice Minister Emilie Anger Mehl, left, Denmark’s Justice Minister Peter Hammelgaard, second right, and the Faroe Islands’ Justice Minister Bjarni Karsson Peterson for a joint statement about child recruitment. Speak during. and young people through social media to organized crime. (Getty Images)
Furthermore, the recent ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has increased Iran’s problems in the region.
While some of the youth recruited by Iran are frustrated by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, others are motivated by money. The report said that in Sweden and Norway, people cannot be prosecuted if they are under 15 years of age.
“There are cases where proxies do not know or do not realize that they are acting on behalf of a foreign power,” the Swedish Security Service said in a statement this year.
The 16-year-old boy who carried out the Elbit Systems attack used two thermos flasks filled with explosives in the attack on the Israeli defense company and was charged along with a 23-year-old accomplice, according to Bloomberg.
Police secure the area near the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm after an apparent shooting on October 1, 2024. (Getty Images)
Click here to get the Fox News app
The presence of organized criminal gangs recruiting minors from immigrant communities is increasing in Sweden.
More than 1.5 million people have moved to the country since 1980 and now about 20% of the population was born outside the country, but many struggle to assimilate, the report said.
