The UK plans to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group, the Telegraph revealed on Monday.
THE REPORT
The move, to be announced within weeks, is in response to the IRGC trying to abduct or murder at least ten UK citizens in the last year, and supported by Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat.
Reportedly, British officials have gathered evidence against the IRGC and shared it with allied countries.
The designation will put the IRGC on par with Al Qaeda and ISIS, which have been proscribed by the UK, allowing London to arrest anyone who is a member of the IRGC, attends the group’s meetings, or calls for supporting it.
IRAN’S “THREAT” TO THE UK
In November, Ken McCallum, chief of British internal intelligence agency MI5, warned that Iran poses one the biggest security challenges to the UK. He noted that Iranian agents have attempted to “kidnap or kill” British citizens at least ten times in 2022.
He stressed that the UK “will not tolerate intimidation or threats to life” of any British citizen or individuals living in the country. His comments followed threats made by Iranian officials against British journalists for covering the ongoing anti-regime protests.
Given #Iran's regime is launching terror plots on UK soil, this would be action:
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) December 30, 2022
1⃣ Closing Khamenei's office in the UK
2⃣ Adding IRGC as proscribed terror organization
3⃣ Downgrading diplomatic ties with Tehran
4⃣ Sanctioning Khamenei
The rest is just words. https://t.co/DXODSjrzU4
In response, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly had summoned Iran’s ambassador in November to “make clear that we [UK] do not tolerate threats to life and intimidation of any kind towards journalists, or any individual, living in the UK.”
Tehran has accused London of supporting British news site Iran International, helping it spread disinformation about demonstrations in Iran. In fact, Iranian security forces arrested an “agent” of the news agency in November for supporting the protests and spreading “terrorism.”
Earlier this month, the IRGC arrested seven individuals linked to the UK for supporting the protests in Iran.
SANCTIONS AGAINST THE IRGC
The US and Canada have already proscribed the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. The previous US administration, led by Donald Trump, had imposed sanctions on the IRGC and designated it a foreign terrorist organisation in 2019. The move prevented the IRGC from doing business with foreign companies and froze the paramilitary group’s foreign assets.
While the current US administration has continued to impose sanctions on several IRGC officials, Washington has recently indicated that it would be willing to remove the IRGC’s terrorist designation if Tehran joins the 2015 nuclear deal without preconditions.
However, attempts to restore the nuclear deal have failed, and Tehran’s brutal crackdown on nationwide women’s rights protests has further jeopardised Iran’s ties with the West.