U.K. Bans Iran Revolutionary Guard and Proxy Group After Attacks on Jewish Sites

The U.K. government on Monday said a series of arson and vandalism attacks on Jewish sites in Britain were carried out by a proxy group backed by Iran. It announced bans on the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, or IMCR, also known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, and on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Security Minister Angela Eagle stated that the IMCR has claimed seven attacks in the U.K. The group had claimed online responsibility for fires at synagogues and Jewish charity ambulances in London in recent months, as well as an attack on a Persian-language media organization critical of Iran’s government. No one was injured in the blazes.

Eagle said members of the Revolutionary Guard’s Qods Force were sitting behind IMCR and almost certainly directed its attacks across Europe. The group sprang up online earlier this year and has claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Earlier this month, two Romanian men received prison sentences for the stabbing of a journalist from a Persian-language television station.

A judge said the attack was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state. Law enforcement officials and intelligence experts say Iran-backed proxy groups are behind a growing number of attacks in Europe, most targeting the Jewish community and Persian-language media critical of Iran’s Islamic government.

The European Union listed the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization in January over Tehran’s crackdown on protests.

There was no immediate comment from Iran.