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State-threat designation
Britain announced it would ban support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying the government would designate the IRGC under a new National Security Act so law enforcement can act against anyone deemed to be providing it with support.
“The British government is pressing to use new powers allowing it to criminalise state proxies in order to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a threat to national security”
The Guardian reported the move as a UK ban on support for the IRGC, and Starmer said: “Anyone acting on behalf of those who threaten our national security should be in no doubt that there is no place for you in Britain.”
The government said the IRGC designation comes alongside similar designations for the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR) and the Russian GRU Volunteer Corps, and it framed the action as coming after years of wrangling over whether the IRGC should be officially proscribed.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the designations would help track down and put behind bars those working for the groups, adding: “Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores.”
Prosecution and prison
The UK government said the designation introduces new criminal offences for people who support, assist or receive a benefit from the designated groups, and it said anyone conducting espionage or sabotage on their behalf would face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Time described the Home Office position that if the proscription-like powers are approved by parliament later this week, supporting the IRGC, IMCR, or Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps could mean a 14-year prison sentence.
Time also quoted the Home Office on sabotage, saying: “anyone “involved in acts of sabotage on behalf of designated groups could face life imprisonment,” the Home Office said.”
In parallel, Al Jazeera reported the government would submit draft regulations to UK Parliament to ban support for the IRGC, and it said the statement included a crackdown on “espionage, foreign interference in our democracy, sabotage and physical attacks.”
Targets, arrests, and fallout
The UK action was linked in the sources to threats and attacks on British soil, including plots to assassinate two Iran International TV journalists in the UK and cyber-attacks on infrastructure in Britain, Australia and Canada.
The Guardian said ministers were prompted to act in part because of those threats to British targets, and it also said the IRGC designation comes as the US and Iran resume hostilities.
Time added that in March four men were arrested on suspicion of conducting surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in London to assist Iran, and it said two of the men were later charged with “engaging in conduct that is likely to assist a foreign intelligence service” between July and August last year.
The Guardian also reported that officials warned in 2023 proscribing the IRGC would likely lead to the expulsion of the UK ambassador to Tehran, removing an important route of communication to the Iranian government, while Starmer said the new powers would make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out “dirty work here in Britain.”
