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IRGC support becomes crime
The UK government said on Monday it was submitting draft regulations to Parliament that would ban support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and criminalise a range of assistance for the force under new state threats powers.
“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”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said, "Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores," as she described rapidly designating three groups so those working for them would be tracked down and put behind bars.
The government said the legislation would make it a criminal offence to invite support for or express support for the military organisation, assist them in carrying out UK-related activities, engage in conduct likely to materially assist them, or accept or retain material benefits provided by or on their behalf.
Al Jazeera’s Charlie Angela, reporting from London, said the designation could come into force "as early as Friday," and described the effect as making support or help to operate a criminal offence with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Starmer, Mahmood, Eagle react
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the new powers would make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work in Britain, adding, "These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work here in Britain."
The UK government said the move followed a series of anti-Semitic attacks in the United Kingdom, and it also listed the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR) and Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps as “the first bodies designated under landmark new state threats powers”.
Security Minister Angela Eagle said, "Sitting behind IMCR were members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ al-Quds force, who almost certainly directed IMCR attacks across Europe," linking the proxy group’s alleged activity to the IRGC.
Fox News reported that British officials said members of the IRGC’s elite Qods Force were "almost certainly" directing the group’s operations across Europe, and it said no injuries were reported in the arson attacks it described.
Parliament vote and fallout
The UK said the draft regulations would be submitted to the UK Parliament and that, if approved later this week, people conducting acts of sabotage including arson on behalf of the designated groups could face life imprisonment.
“UK ban support for Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) UK Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood announce say Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) go dey officially recognised as threat to national security”
The BBC said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that support for IRGC, IMCR, and Russia’s GRU volunteer corps would become an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison, and it described the change as giving police and intelligence agencies new power to tackle espionage, foreign interference, sabotage and physical attacks.
The Guardian said the IRGC designation came after years of wrangling over whether it should be officially proscribed, and it warned that proscribing the IRGC would be likely to lead to the expulsion of the UK ambassador to Tehran.
Middle East Eye reported that the legislation would apply to support shown for IRGC activity that is prejudicial to the UK or relates to it directly, and it quoted Home Office minister Angela Eagle saying, "Its role extends far beyond that of a conventional military force."
