LONDON – In a significant move to counter foreign state-sponsored hostile activity on British soil, the United Kingdom government announced Monday that a wave of coordinated arson and vandalism targeting Jewish community sites across the country has been linked to an Iran-backed proxy organization. In response, authorities have moved to formally ban both the proxy group and Iran’s influential paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, labeling them unacceptable threats to national security.
The group being outlawed is the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR), also referred to as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia. Alongside the ban on this proxy network, the UK is also formally proscribing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a decision that will bring harsh legal consequences for anyone acting on the groups’ behalf once parliamentary approval is finalized. Under the new legislation, which government officials confirm is on track to pass by the end of this week, individuals convicted of coordinating sabotage for the banned organizations could face up to life imprisonment.
Security Minister Angela Eagle confirmed in an official statement that the IMCR has publicly claimed responsibility for seven separate attacks across the UK. In online postings, the group took credit for a string of recent arson incidents targeting Jewish sites in London, including synagogues and ambulances operated by a Jewish charity. The group also claimed an attack on a Persian-language media outlet that is openly critical of Iran’s ruling government. No casualties were reported in any of the fire attacks.
Eagle emphasized that the IMCR is not an independent network, noting: “Sitting behind IMCR were members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force, who almost certainly directed IMCR attacks across Europe.” The Qods Force, named for Jerusalem, serves as the Revolutionary Guard’s specialized overseas expeditionary branch tasked with conducting foreign operations and supporting proxy groups globally.
First emerging on digital platforms earlier this year, the IMCR has also claimed responsibility for similar attacks targeting synagogues in Belgium and the Netherlands, expanding the scope of its disruptive activity across Western Europe. Law enforcement and intelligence analysts across the continent have documented a steady rise in Iran-backed proxy attacks in Europe in recent years, with most incidents targeting two primary groups: Jewish communities and exiled Persian-language media outlets that oppose Iran’s Islamic government. These proxy networks typically operate by recruiting existing criminal gang members to carry out sabotage and violent attacks, creating a layer of separation between the Iranian state and the illegal activity.
Monday’s announcement also included a separate proscription: the UK has designated the GRU Volunteer Corps, a group controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency, as a national security threat. According to authorities, the group carries out foreign intelligence gathering and covert hostile operations on behalf of the GRU, expanding the scope of the UK’s crackdown on foreign state-sponsored activity from both Iran and Russia.
UK officials stressed that the new proscriptions will streamline law enforcement and intelligence agency efforts to crack down on what they have called “thugs for hire” – any individual or network that provides support to foreign proscribed proxy groups. Prime Minister Keir Starmer underscored the gravity of the government’s action in a statement, saying: “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 bans mark the first major use of a new UK counter-hostile activity law that entered into force just last week. The legislation grants the national government expanded authority to proscribe and dismantle proxy organizations that carry out illegal operations on behalf of hostile foreign states. The announcement comes less than two weeks after two Romanian men were handed prison sentences for the stabbing of a journalist working for a Persian-language television outlet, with the presiding judge explicitly ruling the attack was ordered and coordinated on behalf of the Iranian state.
As of Monday evening, Iran has not issued any immediate public response to the UK’s proscription announcements. The European Union already took similar action earlier this year, listing the entire Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization in response to Tehran’s violent crackdown on domestic anti-government protests.