UK bans support for Iran's IRGC

[Twiglets1]

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will be designated a threat to national security.

Mahmood will use new government powers to ban support for the group, which has been linked to death threats, attacks and intimidation in the UK.

In a written statement to Parliament, she set out how support for the IRGC, from expressing a positive opinion to assisting them, will now be an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Two other groups are also being proscribed, the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), and the volunteer corps of Russia's GRU (foreign military intelligence agency).

New powers will be given to police and intelligence agencies to tackle espionage, foreign interference, sabotage and physical attacks from these groups.

Iran's IRGC is believed to have directed seven attacks at UK locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz0jkj7e87go

Does this really require a post? I’m not sure there’s much to discuss here?

Announcing the new powers, Sir Keir Starmer said: "We will never let Britain be a playground for states who want to spread fear, division and violence on our streets.

"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."

If approved by Parliament later this week, those conducting acts of sabotage including arson on behalf of these groups could face life imprisonment.

You could always not click on the thread...

I looked to see if there was perhaps anything interesting being said.

But no, it’s just a post of a news article

The Guardian refer to the UK listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation as a major escalation of the diplomatic tensions with Tehran.

The Home Office said on Monday it would ban support for the IRGC, a central branch of the Iranian military, after years of political division over the issue. The move is equivalent to proscription, though not legally identical.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/13/uk-list-iran-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-irgc-terrorist-organisation

What is your opinion on the news that the UK is banning support for the IRGC?

Personally I see it as a good thing for the UK and long overdue, but I'm interested in other people's opinions on it.

Too little too late.!

Why not ask for opinions then? Are you hoping someone will come on here and say it’s a bad thing they’ve done this?

Good.

i see the Green Party are wanting to lift sanctions on the IRGC and have a closer/more supportive relationship with. Because they’re fucking nutcases.

I did this when I asked you What is your opinion on the news that the UK is banning support for the IRGC?

The way threads tend to work is that people do offer opinions on recent events and they aren't all the same.

Seeing as we are all anonymous on MN, I wouldn't be surprised to hear some people are of the opinion that it's a bad thing not a good thing.

Agree with this but I also think - at least Labour are about to get it done. Better late than never.

Disappointing that the Conservatives didn't do it when they were in power.

I didn't know that but according to the Spectator, the Green Party foreign policy proposals on Iran are backed by numerous members of the influential Greens for Palestine group. Leaked messages from the organisation’s WhatsApp chat show participants hailing the IRGC as a ‘national liberation movement’ that helped unshackle the country from a ‘US puppet regime’.

Discussing Iran, one member of the chat, named Priscilla, argued that the IRGC is an ‘effective resistance’ movement and that ‘all the evidence points to events like the (Golders Green) ambulance attacks being a false flag Israeli intelligence operation with the co-operation of the British state, the media and Zionist organisations’.

Commenting on the proposal, Labour MP David Taylor told The Spectator: ‘This is terrifyingly naive. The IRGC is not a peace group, it is the Iranian regime’s blood-soaked enforcer. They often crush protesters, jail dissidents, back terror proxies and plot threats on British soil.’ He added: ‘For the Greens to even consider opposing action against it, while questioning Britain’s terror laws from first principles, is reckless, dangerous and utterly out of touch. Voters deserve to know why a party seeking power is flirting with ideas that would make Britain less safe.’

https://spectator.com/article/revealed-the-green-party-push-to-ease-sanctions-on-iran/

And there it is. Within 12 posts it’s descended into another pointless rant against Palestine.

Where is the rant against Palestine?

I can't see one either!

Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Charlie Angela said the designation could come into force as early as Friday.

The Government said the IRGC has a “long history of using proxies and criminal networks to target people overseas - particularly the Jewish people and Iranian dissidents”.

Tehran … has previously denied using proxies.

Wtf, the fact that you can marry a 9yr old would be enough let alone the support for terrorism and proxy groups that destabilise their own countries.

They don’t care about any of that as long as they hate Jews as much as the Green Party do

I think this is a very dangerous policy, not because I believe this group isn't a threat but more about this legislation and how it's now being used. I was at Sheffield train station two weeks ago and a group of what I can describe as middle class middle age pensioners singing in the main building. Very peaceful very respectful. They had Palestinian flags and clearly supported the Palestinian group. It made me think....are they breaking the law...because they support a banned group....14 years in jail.

I think we are heading down the rabbit hole and we need to be careful. We don't know what kind of government is going to follow this one and all these laws could be used against us.

You have to remember that 14 years is the maximum sentence (apart from life sentence if anyone conducts espionage or sabotage on their behalf).

Ministers said on Monday they had been prompted to act in part because of recent threats to British targets. They included plots to assassinate two Iran International TV journalists in the UK, as well as cyber-attacks on infrastructure in Britain, Australia and Canada.

The group you describe sound like they were showing peaceful support for Palestinians generally ... not showing support for the IRGC or for Palestine Action. That is not unlawful.

Even if a group of pensioners were showing support for Palestine Action or the IRGC they would not get the maximum sentence if their support was peaceful.

I find it genuinely amazing tbh. I had a conversation with someone who objected to americas actions in Iran (because she doesn’t believe in interfering apparently) yet seemed absolutely fine with Iran turning Lebanon into a proxy state. Couldn’t see the irony there at all. I think people are so ideologically captured by their own Jew obsession that they just try to ignore the inconsistencies in their own positions. It’s not morality it’s ideology.

The greens truly are awful.

I agree with what you say about the dangers. Because as always there is a "it depends" factor to it. And to be clear, I have not read the act or law, so I am posting in the blind a bit.

My main thought is that it is good to proscribe the IRGC because it adds a level of protection to Iranian dissidents in the UK, either as asylum seekers or asylum granted. They do appear to be the folk the IRGC plan against. I recall of the 20 terror plots in the UK that the IRGC that are said to have been foiled on, 19 of those were against Iranian dissidents. So that's a good.

The bad is, as you say, protestors at railway stations waving flags. It really does depend on what the details are.

I don't think it's just a Jew obsession it's also an automatic anti US response.

Fair enough that a lot of people are against the US/Israel war in Iran. They did start a war and some people will always take an anti war stance which I respect.

But those same people should be equally against the IRGG's aggression re turning Lebanon into a proxy state, and should be critical of Hezbollah and Hamas for starting wars in Lebanon and Gaza. But they are a lot less vocal about that!

The designation of the IRGC and the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR) will also add protection to the Jewish community in the UK @RedTagAlan if you care about that.

The move will step up the government’s ability to counter state threats linked to foreign powers including espionage, foreign interference in our democracy, sabotage and physical attacks.

It comes after the IMCR have publicly claimed 7 attacks at UK locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities, and Persian-language media, including the antisemitic arson attack on 4 Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green on 23 March. Sitting behind IMCR were members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force, who almost certainly directed IMCR attacks across Europe.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/support-for-irgc-outlawed-in-crackdown-on-foreign-state-proxies#:~:text=In%20just%20one%20year%2C%20MI5,Jewish%20community%20and%20Iranian%20dissidents.

So because a group of pensioners were singing about a banned group (I'm assuming you mean PA) then we shouldn't be proscribing dangerous groups? If they were singing in support of Hamas or ISIS or the Atomwaffen Division would that br okay?

And I'm not sure what their age and class has to do with it. Or how someone can be a middle-age pensioner. What if they were working class millenials, would that change your opinion?