UK submits draft regulations to designate Iran's IRGC as a state threat
The UK government has submitted draft regulations to Parliament that would allow Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be designated as a threat to national security. The move uses new powers aimed at criminalising support for state proxies and other foreign-backed activity. It comes after a series of anti-Semitic attacks in the United Kingdom and is part of a wider effort to tighten the response to espionage, foreign interference, sabotage and physical attacks.
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According to the government statement, once the designation is in place it would become a criminal offence to invite support for or express support for the IRGC. It would also be illegal to assist the group in carrying out UK-related activities, engage in conduct likely to materially assist it, or accept or retain material benefits provided by or on its behalf. The draft regulations were submitted on Monday, and the government said Parliament could approve them later this week.
The same new state threats framework would also be used to designate the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, an Iran-backed group that claimed seven attacks on Jewish sites in the UK earlier this year, and Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU Volunteer Corps. British police have investigated attacks on Jewish-linked sites in London, including the torching of four ambulances belonging to a community charity in March. Three men were charged with arson in April, according to the report.
The proposal matters because it gives the UK a more direct legal route to target foreign state proxies without prosecutors having to prove a foreign power connection in every case. That lowers the evidential threshold in cases involving designated groups and could make it easier to bring prosecutions linked to sabotage or other hostile activity. The government said the powers are intended to crack down on foreign state-backed activity in the UK, including interference in democracy and covert operations.
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The legislation is being presented as a response to a broader pattern of concern about activity linked to Iran and Russia. Caretaker Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the new powers would make it easier to prosecute and imprison people carrying out what he described as the groups' dirty work in Britain. The statement also said that acts of sabotage, including arson, carried out on behalf of the designated bodies could carry life imprisonment if the regulations are approved.
What remains unclear is how quickly Parliament will approve the draft regulations and how soon any designation would take effect. It is also not yet clear how many cases could be brought under the new framework or how prosecutors will apply the rules in practice. The next key step is the parliamentary process later this week, which will determine whether the government can begin using the new powers against the IRGC and the other listed groups.
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