The parliament’s intelligence and security committee warns that the UK faces “rise” and unpredictable threats from Iran to deal with it.
The call released the results of a major investigation that examines the results of Iranian state assassination and kidnapping, spies, cyber attacks and their nuclear programs.
The report is dependent on August 2023, so the impact of increasing tensions since Hamas’ attacks on Israel or Iran-Iran-Israel conflict is not assessed – but its authors say the findings still make sense.
The committee is particularly concerned about the “sharp increase” of physical threats to British Iranian regime rivals.
Lord Beamish, chairman of the committee, said: “Iran poses a broad, lasting and unpredictable threat to the interests of Britain, British nationals and Britain.”
He added: “Iran has a high interest in risk when conducting offensive activities and its intelligence services are full of asymmetric powers in a huge resource.”
The Iranian embassy in London “totally rejected” the findings of the report, which were called “biased” and “unfounded”.
The commission’s mission is to oversee the UK’s spy agency, accusing the government of focusing on “crisis management” and “fighting” with Iran and nuclear programs at the expense of other threats, which requires better long-term response.
It continues: “Although Iran’s activities seem to be smaller than Russia and China, Iran poses a wide range of threats to British national security, which should not be underestimated: This is durable and – crucially – unpredictable.”
It said intelligence agencies told it that Iran “will be the champions at the top of the championship, not the Premier League, but the rise” in terms of threats to the UK.
The report found that physical threats to people living in the UK have increased since 2022, with dissidents aiming to “the interests of British Jews and Israel.”
The committee said there have been at least 15 attempts to murder or kidnapping targeting British nationals or British individuals since the report stopped collecting evidence from early 2022 to August 2023.
The authors of the report said they have been told that the physical threat is “comparable to the threat posed by Russia.”
It found that Iran “sees Britain as collateral for handling internal affairs—that is, eliminating the regime’s enemies”, and protests drive physical threats caused by insecurity within the Iranian regime.
MI5 said it has seen “continuous targeting” by Iranian media organizations operating in the UK (mainly Iran International), and BBC Persia and Manoto TV broadcast from the UK are also “outstanding targets.” The committee said Iran saw these as “seriously undermining its regime.”
The committee found that family members of Iran’s BBC Persian journalists reported “severe harassment, including being called for interrogation and being threatened as their families continue to work for the organization”.
British News reporter Sima Sabet realized in late 2023 that she was the target of the assassination plot and put a panic button on counter-terrorism police in London. The following year, police said they were wise and her life was at risk at home and asked her to leave immediately.
She was working for Iran International and previously worked for the BBC World Services department, and she now broadcasts directly on X.
She told the BBC that she had lost a large part of her social life, could not move freely, had to be “constantly cautious” and be wary of the possibility of being attacked.
“Life under threat means your sense of security is taken away from you. It affects not only your life, but the lives of everyone around you,” she said.
“From things like praising a taxi or ordering food (I never took my real name for example) to the constant pressure and danger of surveillance that is real, it shapes your entire existence.”
She said she hopes the government can respond decisively to the report and “give a strong response to the Islamic Republic that cannot operate on British land”.
“This is a direct violation of our security and sovereignty,” she added. “This should be a red line.”
The committee noted that a lot of changes have occurred in the Middle East since 2023. Recently, Israel then launched a strike against Iran with the aim of lowering its nuclear program.
The report said Iran has not developed nuclear weapons by August 2023 and has agreed with the international community to limit its plans to “broad compliance.”
The U.S. withdraws from the deal in 2018, meaning that the threat posed by nuclear Iran has increased, and the committee found Tehran “has the ability to arm the arm in a relatively short period of time.” It said nuclear reduction “must be a priority.”
The report found that targeting other areas:
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As of August 2023, detention is a major physical threat to British citizens of Iran, while threats of collateral damage to British armed forces are a major physical risk to British nationals in the Middle East.
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The possible evacuation of British citizens in Iran is “unrealistic” and the government must learn lessons from previous actions, such as the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2021
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Governments should consider Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization
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It should also consider whether financial sanctions will change behavior or “do not help push Iran to China”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was asked to approve the release of the report because of its intelligence-related sensitivity.
A UK government spokesman said the report “proves the “important work” of security and intelligence agencies in response to threats posed by countries such as Iran.
“We have placed Iran in the enhancement layer of foreign influence registration programs and have imposed further sanctions on individuals and entities related to Iran, bringing the total sanctions to 450,” a statement continued.
Earlier this month, BBC Director-General Tim Davie called on Iran to “stop journalists targeting violence, threats and psychological warfare.” The BBC said it was preparing to call on the UN to stop its “persecution campaign.”
