British Parliament: Iran Poses ‘Significant Threat To The UK’

A report from Great Britain’s Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament stated clearly that they saw Iran as a “significant threat to the UK.”

“The Iran threat should not be underestimated: it is persistent and  — crucially  — unpredictable,” the report — which was completed before the October 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis and subsequent events occurred — declared. “Iran has a high appetite for risk when conducting offensive activity, which means it poses a dynamic and erratic threat. … it can escalate action sharply with little warning. This was seen following the 2022 protests in Iran, when there was a significant increase in the threat of a physical attack to individuals in the UK and the Middle East whom Iran perceives to be a threat to the regime.”

“Iran often operates through proxy groups — including criminal networks, militant and terrorist organizations, and private cyber actors. This provides it with a deniable means of attacking its adversaries with minimal risk of retaliation,” the report continued.

“The threat to the opponents of the Iranian regime residing in the UK is the greatest level of threat we currently face from Iran.’ It is on a broadly comparable level to that posed by Russia,” the report asserted. “Iran uses assassination as an instrument of state policy — targeting dissidents is a high priority for both the Ministry of Intelligence and Security and the IRGC.”

“Iran proceeding with its nuclear weapons programme represents a critical threat to the UK’s national security,” the report warned. “The Supreme Leader of Iran (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) wields tremendous power — he is the ultimate decision-maker, setting the direction of Iranian foreign and domestic policy. In terms of the threat posed by Iran to the UK and its interests, the Supreme Leader is therefore key.”

“Iran is there across the full spectrum of all the kinds of threats we have to be concerned with,” the committee chair, Kevan Jones, said.

“Last year, the head of Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 said since January 2022, his service and British police had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots to kidnap or kill British nationals or individuals based in the United Kingdom regarded by Tehran as a threat,” The Times of Israel noted. “In May, UK police arrested eight Iranian men who were reportedly suspected of plotting to attack the Israeli Embassy in London.”