The UK will list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, ministers have announced, in a major escalation of the diplomatic tensions with Tehran.
The Home Office said 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.
Ministers are also set to outlaw the the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR), which has been blamed for a series of attacks on Jewish targets in the UK.
The Home Office said in a statement: “Having carefully considered all the evidence, the home secretary has concluded that there is sufficient basis to reasonably believe that each of these bodies is engaged in foreign power threat activity, and that each designation is necessary to protect the safety and interests of the United Kingdom.”
The government said it was proscribing the IRGC after a number of threats on UK soil, including a plot to assassinate two Iran International television journalists, as well a cyber-attacks on British targets.
The move overturns the previous decision by the Conservatives not to ban the organisation, and will make it a criminal offence to support it in any way.
