The UK government has announced plans to ban and designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a threat to national security.
The AFP reported that the groups to be banned would also include proxies and volunteers of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, and the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), an Iran-linked group which has claimed attacks on Jewish properties in London.
“Anyone found supporting or assisting these groups will now face up to 14 years in prison,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said of a proposed law to be presented to parliament this week.
The Home Office said the move “will step up the government’s ability to counter state threats linked to foreign powers, including espionage, foreign interference in our democracy, sabotage and physical attacks.”
The proposed legislation, which seeks to give the UK the power to designate foreign state proxies considered a threat to its national security, will mean that prosecutors do not need to establish a foreign power connection in cases involving designated groups.
Iran’s IRGC was believed to have directed seven attacks at UK locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities.
Mr Starmer, who vowed to fast-track the National Security (state threats) Act in April this year, insisted the UK would never be a playground for states that wanted to spread fear, division and violence on its streets.
“We have already taken tough action against the Iranian regime and those linked to it, and against Russian operatives and networks targeting our country. These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work here in Britain,” the prime minister added.
The IRGC emerged after the 1979 revolution to defend the country’s new Islamic system. However, it has since become a powerful arm of the state with a reach beyond Iran’s borders and an estimated 190,000 active personnel.
The militia has consistently been accused by Western nations of sponsoring terrorism abroad, forcing countries such as Australia, Canada and the US to list it as a terror group.
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