In a major shift to the United Kingdom’s national security strategy following a wave of violent antisemitic attacks on British soil, the UK government has introduced groundbreaking emergency legislation that would formally ban Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a designated terrorist threat, alongside multiple other groups tied to hostile foreign states. The new law, which is scheduled to be laid before parliament this week, marks one of the most significant escalations in UK-Iran relations in recent years, crafted in direct response to a string of targeted assaults on Jewish communities across London earlier this year.\n\nUnder the proposed framework, anyone convicted of providing material support, funding, or assistance to the banned organizations will face a maximum prison sentence of 14 years, a steep penalty intended to deter hostile activity on UK territory. Beyond the IRGC, the ban will also extend to proxy networks and affiliate volunteers of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, as well as the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR) — an Iran-aligned group that has publicly claimed responsibility for multiple arson attacks on Jewish infrastructure in the capital, including the burning of four ambulances operated by the Jewish charity Hatzola in the Golders Green neighborhood of north London.\n\nA key innovation of the new legislation is the expansion of executive authority, granting the UK government so-called “proscription-like” powers to designate foreign state proxy groups that are deemed to pose a direct risk to national security. Critically, the new rules will remove the legal requirement for prosecutors to prove a direct connection between a suspect and a hostile foreign government in cases involving already designated groups, streamlining the legal process to speed up prosecutions of hostile actors.\n\nThe UK Home Office emphasized in an official statement that the legislative overhaul will substantially strengthen the government’s capacity to counter a broad spectrum of state-aligned threats, including espionage, foreign interference in British democratic processes, sabotage, and coordinated physical attacks against targets on UK soil. \n\nHome Office minister Angela Eagle outlined the rationale for the ban in a written ministerial statement, confirming that UK security agencies have documented multiple instances of IRGC-linked activity on British territory that involved direct threats to human life and organized intimidation of civilian communities. The government fast-tracked the drafting and introduction of the bill in response to the “abhorrent antisemitic attacks” that shook north London earlier this year, which included multiple arson strikes against synagogues, community emergency vehicles, and other Jewish community sites.\n\nLast month, a coalition of 22 countries including the UK, the United States, and multiple European nations issued a joint public statement blaming the IRGC and its foreign operations unit, the Quds Force, for coordinated plots targeting Iranian dissidents, independent journalists, and Jewish communities across the Western world. \n\nHome Secretary Shabana Mahmood framed the new legislation as a decisive response to transnational hostile activity on UK territory, saying “Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores. I have rapidly designated three groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars.” Prime Minister Keir Starmer echoed this stance, emphasizing that the new law sends a clear message that hostile foreign states will not be allowed to operate with impunity on UK territory.’