Home Office circulates Iran terror warning to CST
Home Office officials highlighted comments made by the director of MI5 confirming Iran had plotted 10 terror attacks in the UK since January. While there is no specific threat to the UK Jewish community, vigilance is advised.
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
The Home Office has circulated a new warning about the threat of Iranian terrorist activity in the UK to the Community Security Trust (CST).
The rare move follows comments made by Ken McCallum, the director of MI5, earlier this month who said Iran has plotted the assassination and kidnapping of at least 10 British residents it accuses of being “enemies of the regime”.
The CST confirmed to Jewish News thatother faith groups were also asked to disseminate the Home Office advice amongst their own communities.
CST also added there is no specific anti-Jewish threat at this time.
In his annual speech on the threats facing the UK, Ken McCallum, MI5’s director general, said Iran’s “aggressive intelligence services” had crossed over into launching terrorist attacks on British soil.
There are fears that as a result of increased instability of the regime in Tehran, which has been rocked by widespread demonstrations from women protesters demanding equal rights, terror groups such as Hezbollah could carry out attacks in the West.
The group had previously bombed a Jewish community centre inBuenos Aires, Argentina in 1994, and carried out a further attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in 2012.
The Home Office statement said”You may have seen reports in the media that the Director of MI5 gave his annual threat update this week.
“In it, he spoke about how the instability in Iran is bringing real-world consequences here in the UK. Iran has become the state-actor which most frequently crosses into terrorism, and we have seen that the regime is resorting to more and more extreme measures to silence its critics at home – we also see that Iran projects that threat directly to the UK, through its aggressive intelligence services.
“We know that, at the most extreme end, Iran’s ambitions include kidnapping and even killing British or UK-based individuals who they perceive to be enemies of the regime. The UK’s intelligence services have identified at least ten such threats since January alone.”
The Home Office added:”The UK government does not tolerate intimidation or threats to life towards any individuals living in the UK, and through its intelligence agencies and police forces will continue to use all tools at their disposal to combat this threat.”
Last month, Iran announced a new list of sanctions against UK figures including Lord Polak, a Conservative peer and honorary president of the Conservative Friends of Israel group.
As always, we remind you that CST’s National Security Control Centre (NSCC) is open 24/7 and can be contacted on 0800 032 3263 or via the CST radio. If you have any security matters or questions that you wish to discuss, please contact CST on 020 8457 9999 or 0161 792 6666.
Please report any suspicious activity to police on 999 and to CST without delay.
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