UK Government to Proscribe Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Russian GRU Unit as Terrorist Groups

The UK government announced on July 13 that it would proscribe Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation under the National Security Act. GB News reported that the decision followed identification of activity linked to the IRGC involving threats to life and intimidation on UK soil.

Security minister Dame Angela Eagle stated that the IRGC forms a central component of the Iranian state's security apparatus and answers directly to Iran's Supreme Leader.

She added that its role extends beyond conventional military functions to include intelligence activity, the use of proxy actors, and the projection of influence. The proscription requires Parliament's approval and would impose life imprisonment on members and supporters.

GB News reported that the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, an Iranian-linked group, will also be banned after a series of attacks on British Jewish communities.

The volunteer corps of Russia's GRU foreign military intelligence agency faces the same measure due to sabotage and other activity directed against the UK and Europe. Emma Schubart, a counter-extremism specialist at the Henry Jackson Society, told GB News that the National Security Act is a very open-ended piece of legislation.

She said it could apply to other state-connected groups such as the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Schubart welcomed the legislation but noted it had come too late, as the IRGC had already been banned by much of the Western world. She stated that the next Prime Minister and government remain responsible for tackling Iranian-backed extremism and that the new restrictions must be enforced against anyone supporting, attending meetings of, or celebrating the IRGC or IRGC-backed groups.