UK Designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard as National Security Threat

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced on 13 July 2026 that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be designated a threat to UK national security. She will use new government powers to ban support for the group, including expressing positive opinions or providing assistance, with violations punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Two additional organizations face the same proscription: the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right and the volunteer corps of Russia's GRU foreign military intelligence agency.

The designations give police and intelligence agencies expanded authority to address espionage, foreign interference, sabotage and physical attacks linked to the three groups. Iran's IRGC is believed to have directed seven attacks at UK locations connected to Jewish and Israeli communities.

MI5 identified at least 20 potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots against people in the UK over the past year.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the 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, acts of sabotage including arson on behalf of the proscribed groups could carry life imprisonment. The change removes the requirement for prosecutors to establish a foreign power connection in every case.

Draft regulations for the proscriptions can now be laid before Parliament. "Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores," Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said. " The IRGC was established after the 1979 revolution and maintains an estimated 190,000 active personnel.

It has already been listed as a terrorist organization by Australia, Canada, the United States and, in January 2026, the European Union.