Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. [Getty]
The UK government announced plans on Monday to ban Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign-backed threat to national security, in a “proscription-like” designation.
Moreover, a series of arson and vandalism attacks on Jewish sites in Britain was the work of a proxy group backed by Iran, the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, or IMCR, also known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, the UK government said Monday.
In a statement, Security Minister Angela Eagle said that the IMCR has claimed seven attacks in the UK “Sitting behind IMCR were members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force, who almost certainly directed IMCR attacks across Europe,” she said. Quds, or Jerusalem, Force is the Guard’s expeditionary unit.
“Anyone found supporting or assisting these groups will now face up to 14 years in prison,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said of a proposed law to be presented to parliament this week.
The banned groups would also include Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps, part of Moscow’s military intelligence agency.
