Police are investigating whether a video of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei posted on the Google page for the US embassy in Oslo is linked to an explosion at the building.
About the same time as the embassy in Norway was hit by a loud explosion in the early hours of Sunday morning, a video was posted showing Iran’s late supreme leader. A text in Farsi under the video said “Allah is great, we are winning”.
Norwegian police are searching for a suspect seen on surveillance footage wearing dark clothing and carrying a bag or rucksack. The person’s face was not visible under a hood.
The explosion damaged one of the entrances to the embassy, sending thick smoke into the street but causing no injuries.
In the past, Iran has been accused of using teenagers hired through Swedish criminals, in particular the Foxtrot network controlled by Kurdish gangster Rawa Majid, to attack Israeli and Jewish targets in Stockholm and Copenhagen. The allegations have resulted in him being placed under sanctions by the US.
Iran has also used criminals to target an opposition television station in the UK, leading to fears it could strike back against US and Israeli targets in Europe.
Experts have told The National that it is plausible Iran has hired a local criminal to carry out the attack and it fits into an established pattern of how it operates, including the posting of videos part of a psychological warfare.
The 15 second footage appears to consist of a clip of Mr Khamenei addressing a crowd and AI generated footage of him walking through an open door.
The text that runs over the video can be translated as: “Has he gone? Where has he gone? He went again! He wanted to go again …”
The video was originally posted on an Instagram account called Amin Media, which describes itself as “the leader’s fans”. The Iran-based account’s recent content includes images of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been chosen to succeed his father.
Magnus Ranstorp, a researcher on terrorism at the Swedish Defence University, said the attack fits into a pattern of Iranian activity that has been seen Nordic countries.
“So it's entirely feasible that this could be one of those attacks,” he told The National.
“It could be some young criminal, who has been pressed to do this, or it could be that there is a supporter of Iran that wanted to do something to support the regime.
“Iran could be behind it, though I would suggest that they would probably also try to do something bigger, with more casualties.”
Dr Ranstorp said the video was part of Iran’s continuing attempts at destabilisation, which are linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ shadowy Unit 840.
“This looks like psychological warfare by pro-Iranian hackers. There are serious operators in Europe that are part of the Iranian network surrounding Unit 840.”
Roger MacMillan, the former head of security at Iran International TV, told The National that it’s “entirely plausible” that Iran has recruited a someone “at several stages removed” to carry out the attack.
“There is every chance it is linked to what is currently going on in Iran and is potentially the start of repercussions.”
He said that could include “asymmetric attacks to destabilise and inflict damage to western assets”.
Mr MacMillan said members of the diaspora community, as well as Jewish and Israeli targets, have been attacked by Iranian proxies.
“But I think there is every scope that would be widened to include US diplomatic assets,” he said.
Oslo police said in a statement that the investigation so far has shown that this was an “improvised explosive device”, adding that the IED had caused a “powerful blast”.
Frode Larsen, head of the Oslo police investigation unit, said no suspects have been identified at present but police are searching for one or several perpetrators.
“It's natural to see this in the context of the current security situation and that this could be an attack deliberately targeting the US embassy,” he said.
“One of our hypotheses is that this is terrorism, but we are also exploring other options. We have been made aware of the video, and it is one of many things we are now investigating and investigating further.”
