UK warns of ‘extraordinary’ threat from Iran and Russia - NYT

Iran and Russia are posing an “extraordinary” threat to the United Kingdom through plots involving espionage, sabotage, and intimidation, Britain’s independent adviser on state threats and terrorism told The New York Times in an interview published Friday.

“These hostile states are using organized crime groups to carry out violent and disruptive operations,” Jonathan Hall said, warning that such threats are much harder to conceptualize for the public compared to terrorism, but no less dangerous. “If you’re an intelligence officer, why would you not exploit divisions in the West?” he added.

Hall warned that while some operatives are “bunglers,” others have come alarmingly close to their targets.

His comments come amid a series of prosecutions involving state-linked threats.

In one trial, six Bulgarians were convicted of spying on behalf of Russian intelligence. In two separate operations on May 3, eight men, including seven Iranians, were arrested by the British counter-terrorism police. Three were later charged under the National Security Act for conduct 'likely to assist a foreign intelligence service.' The foreign state involved is Iran, police said.

Iran poses ‘unacceptable threat,’ UK minister says

Last month, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper declared in parliament that “the Iranian regime poses an unacceptable threat to our domestic security, which cannot continue.”

“We will not tolerate growing state-backed threats on UK soil,” Cooper said. “The UK will not accept any Iranian state threat activity in the UK.”

Push to target Iran’s IRGC gains momentum

In response to the rising threats, Hall last month urged the government to expand its powers to target affiliates of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which he said poses a unique challenge. The Revolutionary Guards cannot be blacklisted the same way non-state actors are, Hall argued, but recommended a new mechanism — a Statutory Alert and Liability Threat (SALT) notice — to disrupt its networks and apply international stigma.

“It will allow the government to communicate decisive stigma... and put the IRGC on notice that its operations, minions, and influence networks are at greater risk of executive action,” his report said.

Over 550 UK lawmakers and peers signed a letter in early May calling for the full proscription of the IRGC as a terrorist group, intensifying political pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to act.