Britain has imposed sanctions on four individuals and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in its entirety following revelations of Iranian plots to poison, kidnap, and kill adversaries on UK soil, according to an investigation by i. The measures, announced by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly last week, include a travel ban and assets freeze.
The investigation, based on interviews with victims, experts, and politicians, details claims of Iranian intelligence operations targeting dissidents and Jewish community leaders. One Jewish leader, speaking anonymously, told i that counter-terror police warned him in November last year that his life was in danger in the UK, after earlier advising him against foreign travel due to a bounty on his life.
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum publicly warned of Iran's aggressive intelligence services pursuing targets in Britain. Security Minister Tom Tugendhat told Parliament in February that Iran had collected intelligence on UK-based individuals, which he believed was preparation for lethal operations.
Catherine Perez-Shakdam, an expert on Islamic terrorism who infiltrated the inner circle of Iran's Supreme Leader, said an attack similar to the Salisbury poisoning is 'not a question of if, it is a question of when'. She claimed the IRGC had mapped out Jewish communities globally, identifying France and England as the most vulnerable.
Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, called for the IRGC to be proscribed as a terrorist group, stating: 'Essentially there has been no punishment for the fact they've been trying to carry out assassinations on our soil.' The Home Office has so far resisted widespread calls to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.
