UK Government to Introduce Legislation Targeting State-Backed Organizations Like Iran's IRGC

Ministers in the UK are planning to introduce new anti-terror powers in the next parliamentary session, allowing the government to ban state threats such as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The measures would enable labeling state-backed groups as terrorist organizations and create new criminal offenses for individuals who support or promote formally listed state-supported threats.

BBC News reported these powers will be included in the government's legislative plans outlined in the King's Speech on 13 May.

The IRGC, established to defend Iran's Islamic system, has become a major military, political and economic force with an estimated tens of thousands of active personnel. Labour MPs have urged the government to ban the IRGC following a series of antisemitic attacks since the war in Iran started.

Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, an Islamist group suspected of Iranian links, claimed responsibility for a recent attack on Jewish community ambulances in north London and other incidents in the UK and Europe.

Other European countries and the EU have already added the IRGC to their lists of proscribed terrorist organizations. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated the UK must deal with malign state actors and suggested legislation would be brought forward as quickly as possible. He expressed being very worried about the increasing use of proxies by the Iranian government.

"In relation to malign state actors more generally, we do need legislation in order to take necessary measures and that is legislation we're bringing forward as soon as we can," Starmer said in a video posted by the Jewish Chronicle newspaper. " The previous Conservative government did not proscribe the IRGC, despite suggesting it would do so in 2023.