UK bans IRGC and Iranian proxy organizations over attacks on Jewish community
The UK has listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, in a major escalation of diplomatic tensions with Tehran, as it also banned a proxy group behind a series of arson attacks on Jewish sites in Britain.On Monday, the Interior Ministry announced a ban on support for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the central branch of the Iranian military, after years of political division over the issue. This step is equivalent to a ban, although not legally identical.“The Home Secretary has concluded that there is sufficient basis to reasonably believe that each of these bodies is engaged in threatening activities by foreign powers,” the Home Office said in a statement.The government also banned the Islamist right-wing movement, which has been blamed for a series of attacks on Jewish targets in the UK. Security Minister Angela Eagle said IMCR had claimed responsibility for seven attacks in the UK, including fires at synagogues and Jewish charity ambulances in London, as well as a Persian-language media organization critical of the Iranian government.“Sitting behind the IMCR were members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, who almost certainly directed IMCR attacks across Europe,” Eagle said.
The group appeared online earlier this year and also claimed responsibility for attacks on synagogues in Belgium and the Netherlands.The government said it had decided to ban the Iranian Revolutionary Guard after a number of threats on UK soil, including a plot to assassinate two Iran International Television journalists, as well as cyber attacks on British targets. The move overturns the previous Conservative government’s decision not to ban the organization and will make it a criminal offense to support it in any way.
Attacks increase in Europe
Law enforcement officials say Iranian-backed proxy groups are behind a growing number of attacks in Europe, most of which target the Jewish community and Persian-language media critical of the Iranian government. They usually work by recruiting members of criminal groups to carry out acts of sabotage.The arson attacks included a fire in March that destroyed four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green, north London, causing several explosions from gas canisters on board.
Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said at the time that police were investigating whether an Islamist group with possible links to Iran was behind the attack.“The rapid growth of Iranian state threats in recent years is serious: hostile state surveillance activity, foiled 20 plots, and recent attempted attacks on the Iranian diaspora,” Rowley said.Earlier this month, two Romanian men were sentenced to prison for stabbing a journalist from a Persian-language TV station, an attack the judge said was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state.In January, the European Union included the Revolutionary Guard on a list of terrorist organizations due to Tehran’s crackdown on protests. There was no immediate comment from Iran.
