Iran’s Revolutionary Guard got a leaked British Ministry of Defense database from the Taliban, hoping to use it to detain suspects as bargaining chips in nuclear talks while the Taliban seeks recognition as Afghanistan’s rulers, the Telegraph reported.
A group of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard officials travelled to Kabul last week, where the Taliban handed them a leaked list containing personal details of Afghans who had applied for asylum in Britain — including soldiers, intelligence assets and special forces members — in exchange for Iran’s potential recognition of their rule, senior Iranian and Afghan officials told the paper.
The Telegraph said the officials travelled without the knowledge of Iran’s civilian government.
A senior Iranian official told the paper that four Guards members promised the Taliban they would push Tehran to speed up recognition of the Islamist group.
“The Taliban gave them the list. They want to find British spies before the ‘snapback’ to have something to pressure London behind closed doors,” the official was quoted as saying.
Iranian border forces have already detained several people whose names appeared on the leaked list, the report said.
“Many were released because they were only former Afghan soldiers, while others are being held for further checks. The focus is just on British spies,” the source added.
The database, dubbed a “kill list” by British media, was accidentally leaked in 2022 when a Royal Marine emailed the full file to Afghan contacts. It included names, phone numbers and email addresses of around 25,000 Afghans and more than 100 British special forces personnel and MI6 operatives who endorsed Afghan relocation applications.
The Taliban’s decision to share the file followed internal debate, the paper said, with some officials objecting due to Iran’s treatment of Afghan refugees.
“Some argued that we should not do any favors for the Iranians … but if they were willing to recognize the Islamic Emirate in return, that would not be a bad deal,” a Taliban official was quoted as saying.
Earlier on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said that recognizing the Taliban was a “sovereign decision,” adding that Tehran maintains extensive interactions with Afghanistan due to shared ties, a long border and common challenges, and would make a decision on recognition “whenever its national interests require.”
The reported development comes as Britain, France and Germany warned they would trigger the 'snapback' mechanism to restore UN sanctions unless Iran resumes nuclear talks before the end of August.
