Britain bans two Iran linked groups under new powers after wave of antisemitic attacks

Britain’s government moved on Monday to outlaw Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a second Iran linked organization, using newly designed powers aimed at countering state backed threats following a series of antisemitic attacks across British cities.

The measures would effectively criminalize support for the two groups while granting police and intelligence agencies expanded authority to address threats connected to them. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement that the new powers will make it easier for authorities to prosecute and imprison anyone carrying out hostile activity on behalf of these organizations within Britain.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, already subject to existing British sanctions, has functioned as an elite military force loyal to the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader since its formation following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. British officials identified the second organization targeted under the new measures as the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, a group the government said has claimed responsibility for seven attacks targeting Jewish and Israeli communities as well as Persian language media outlets operating in Britain. Among these incidents, the government cited an antisemitic arson attack on four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green on March 23.

Britain also used the same new authority to designate Russia’s GRU intelligence agency, extending the government’s proscription like powers beyond Iran linked threats to address concerns about Russian state backed activity within the country as well.

The designations require parliamentary approval before taking full legal effect, a process that will determine the final scope and timing of enforcement against individuals or groups found to be supporting the newly outlawed organizations.

The move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps marks a significant escalation in Britain’s approach to Iranian state linked activity, following years of pressure from lawmakers and advocacy groups who argued that existing sanctions failed to adequately address the organization’s alleged role in orchestrating attacks and intimidation campaigns on British soil. Critics of the previous approach had long called for the Revolutionary Guard Corps to face proscription similar to that applied to other organizations the government classifies as terrorist entities, arguing that sanctions alone did not provide law enforcement with sufficient tools to prosecute individuals connected to the group’s activities within Britain.

The string of antisemitic attacks that prompted Monday’s announcement has raised alarm among British Jewish communities and drawn condemnation from across the political spectrum. The arson attack on ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish emergency medical service, in the Golders Green area of London in March drew particular attention given the target’s role in providing emergency care to the local Jewish community.

British security officials have increasingly warned in recent years about the involvement of foreign state actors in orchestrating or inspiring attacks against religious and ethnic communities within the United Kingdom, often using proxy groups or individuals to obscure direct state involvement. The inclusion of the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right alongside the more widely known Revolutionary Guard Corps reflects growing concern within British intelligence circles about a broader network of Iran linked groups operating covertly to target specific communities and media organizations critical of the Iranian government.

The simultaneous designation of Russia’s GRU underscores the British government’s broader strategy of using these new powers to address multiple state backed threats concurrently, rather than treating Iran linked and Russia linked activities as entirely separate concerns. The GRU has faced scrutiny in Britain for years over its alleged involvement in various hostile activities, including the 2018 poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, an incident that significantly damaged diplomatic relations between London and Moscow.

Iran has not yet issued a formal response to Britain’s announcement, though Tehran has historically rejected similar designations from Western governments as politically motivated and has denied direct involvement in attacks attributed to affiliated groups operating abroad. The Iranian government has consistently maintained that the Revolutionary Guard Corps operates as a legitimate branch of the country’s armed forces rather than a terrorist organization, a position that has placed Tehran at odds with a growing number of Western governments that have moved toward stricter designations in recent years.

The parliamentary approval process for the new designations is expected to proceed in the coming weeks, with British officials indicating that law enforcement agencies are preparing to implement expanded investigative and prosecutorial powers once the measures receive final legislative sign off.