Cross-party support for UK ban on Iran’s IRGC at launch event of pro-democracy group

A former Conservative leader and a Labour peer have both criticised the failure of successive UK governments to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as they spoke at an event for a group advocating secular-democratic rule.

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, and Labour’s Lord McCabe both addressed the UK launch of the Iran Front campaign group, expressing surprise that while the Palestine Action group has been proscribed—a move both support—the same has not been done for the IRGC.

Addressing a large audience in the Lord’s Home Room, Lord McCabe said there was “one obvious step” the UK must take to punish the regime in Tehran for its support of terror and destruction, including attacks targeting Jews worldwide: proscribing the IRGC.

Duncan Smith echoed McCabe’s remarks, noting that the government had already proscribed Palestine Action, which he described as a “lesser organisation” than the IRGC.

He emphasised that the IRGC has been “stirring up hate on our streets in the United Kingdom” and inciting violence.

“I’m talking about the antisemitism and the murder of Jews for the sake of one thing: that they are Jews,” he added.

McCabe reiterated his support for the Labour government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action, citing its attacks on national security and encouragement of terrorism. He argued that these same grounds apply to the IRGC.

UK-Iranian campaigner Vahid Beheshti, who staged a lengthy hunger strike outside the Foreign Office to protest the government’s failure to proscribe the IRGC, also delivered an impassioned speech.

“Tonight, we stand at a historic crossroad; not just for Iran, but for all of humanity,” the founder of Iran Front said.

“In a world where peace, security, and stability are increasingly under threat, one truth has become unmistakably clear: if we are to secure lasting peace in the world, we must first establish lasting peace in the Middle East.

“And to do that, we must address the root cause of violence, extremism, and chronic instability—the Islamic Republic regime in Tehran,” he said, accusing the regime of holding the Iranian people hostage for forty-seven years and exporting crises and extremist ideology abroad.

Beheshti’s wife, Mattie Heaven, a Tory councillor, also spoke, describing the Iran Front as a movement for “sustainable transition” and a shift from politics to “a culture of deterrence, against the reproduction of extremism.”

She explained, “Our approach is law, culture, and education. Alongside our political campaign to unite and support the people of Iran in reclaiming their nation and restoring a secular-democratic order, we are committed to exposing the regressive ideology that falsely claims to represent Islam.”

She added that a striking hallmark of authoritarian pseudo-religious regimes like Tehran’s is their “entrenched antisemitism,” noting that “state-sanctioned Jew-hatred is justified through a distorted interpretation of sacred texts.”

Other speakers at Monday’s event included Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel, Lord Austin, and Lord Walney.

Patel called for the UK government to toughen its stance against Iran’s “malign influence” and highlighted the domestic threat posed by the IRGC.

She also criticised the government for not being more vocal in supporting US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer last June.

“If we need to go back and have another wave of attacks, we should be backing the United States to do that, because Iran must never ever get its hands on a nuclear weapon,” she said.

Lord Austin concluded, “After the October 7 Hamas attacks, I think the world recognises now that the Islamic Republic is the main obstacle to peace and security in the Middle East.