The Embassy of Sweden in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. The mission consists of an

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

, a number of Swedes sent by the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

and local employees. Mathias Otterstedt has been

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

since 2023.

History

Ludvig Fabritius Ludvig (Lodewyck) Fabritius (14 September 1648, Dutch Brazil – 6 October 1729, Stockholm) was the Swedish Empire, Swedish ambassador to Safavid Iran during the reign of King Charles XI of Sweden, Charles XI (r. 1660–1697) and Charles XII of Sw ...

led three missions, in 1679–80, 1683–84, and 1697–1700, to the

Safavid court The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

during the reign of

Charles XI of Sweden Charles XI or Carl (; ) was List of Swedish monarchs, King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period of History of Sweden, Swedish history known as the Swedish Empire (1611–1721). He was the only son of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden ...

(r. 1660–1697) and

Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

(r. 1697–1718); and

Suleiman of Persia Suleiman I (; born Sam Mirza, February or March 1648 – 29 July 1694) was the eighth Shah of Safavid Iran from 1666 to 1694. He was the eldest son of Abbas II and his concubine, Nakihat Khanum. Born as Sam Mirza, Suleiman spent his childhood ...

(26 October 1666 – 29 July 1694 ),

Sultan Husayn Soltan Hoseyn (; 1668 – 9 September 1727) was the Safavid shah of Iran from 1694 to 1722. He was the son and successor of Shah Suleiman (). Born and raised in the royal harem, Soltan Hoseyn ascended the throne with limited life experience a ...

(29 July 1694 – 11 September 1722). In 1929 the governments of the

Arvid Lindman Salomon Arvid Achates Lindman (19 September 1862 – 9 December 1936) was a Swedish rear admiral, industrialist and conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1906 to 1911 and again from 1928 to 1930. He has been des ...

and

Reza Shah Reza Shah Pahlavi born Reza Khan (15 March 1878 – 26 July 1944) was shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941 and founder of the roughly 53 years old Pahlavi dynasty. Originally a military officer, he became a politician, serving as minister of war an ...

(

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

) established diplomatic relations in connection with the conclusion of a friendship treaty. In September 1957, an agreement was reached between the Swedish and Iranian governments on the mutual elevation of the respective countries' legations to embassies. In connection with this, the envoy there,

Ragnvald Bagge Ragnvald Richardson (R:son) Bagge (12 November 1903 – 24 March 1991) was a Swedish diplomat. Early life Bagge was born on 12 November 1903 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, the son of consul general Richard Bagge and his wife Lily (née Schwa ...

, was appointed Sweden's ambassador in Tehran.

Staff

Sweden's embassy in Tehran has around 40 employees.

British Interest Office

Sweden acts as a

protecting power A protecting power is a country that represents another sovereign state—the protected power—in a third country where the protected power lacks its own formal diplomatic representation (e.g., lacks an embassy or consulate). It is common fo ...

for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in Iran, and on July 15, 2012, the British Interest Office was opened at the Swedish embassy. Sweden has previously been a protective force for Britain in Iran during the 1980s and until 1990.

Building

The property that houses the Swedish embassy in Tehran has been owned by the

National Property Board of Sweden The National Property Board of Sweden (, SFV) is a Swedish State administrative authority, organised under the Ministry of Finance. SFV is responsible for managing a portion of the real property assets owned by the State. The portfolio consists ...

(SFV) since 1997. It was changed by SFV to an undeveloped site owned by the Swedish state since 1963. Since 1994, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had its embassy housed in the building and considered the house to be good and appropriate for embassy activities. The building was initially a multi-family house with five apartments. It consists of two floors and basement with garage, boiler room and storage room. An exercise room, sauna and pool were previously found in the basement floor. It is built as a

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

deck structure with

Girder A girder () is a Beam (structure), beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a sta ...

s and pillars in concrete and the facades are clad with light yellow brick. The garden is walled with natural stone walkways and stairs, fountains and plantings. At the takeover in 1997, the installations were of a very low standard. The house was built in 1979 in accordance with the then building rules and was inadequate in terms of safety against earthquake loads. Technical studies of the building's design and durability were carried out by SFV in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which showed that it did not meet the minimum requirements according to Iranian earthquake safety. Earthquake reinforcement measures were undertaken by SFV with local earthquake expertise and Swedish designers. In conjunction with the reinforcement work, a thorough rebuilding of the regular embassy office was carried out to cope with the many visa cases and issues of biometric passports. Maintenance efforts were also made with regard to surface layers and installations. The rebuilding started in February 2007 and on 1 August 2007 the embassy moved into the newly renovated and earthquake-protected premises. In November 2007, the embassy was reopened.

References

External links

* {{Diplomatic missions in Iran