UK government announces expanded sanctions criteria against Iran

The UK government has again rejected calls from both communal groups and MPs across all parties to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group.

Instead the foreign office said it was expanding the criteria by which supporters and companies can be put under sanctions.

This will allow ministers for the first time to sanction individuals for their activities inside the UK, and not just in Iran.

Confirming the move foreign secretary James Cleverly said the new proposals meant there “will be no hiding place for those who seek to do us harm”.

Cleverly said UK authorities have responded to more than 15 “credible” threats by Iran to try and kidnap or kill British or UK-based opponents of the regime.

The foreign office added Iranian intelligence services have developed “close relationships with organised criminal gangs” in the UK and across Europe to expand its networks.

In an interview with Sky News, the foreign secretary said:””What we have seen is Iran try to stifle dissenting voices, trying to silence criticism.

“In the UK we value freedom of speech, we value press freedom and we are willing to defend those things. We will stay ever vigilant.”

He continued: “The Home Office and the security minister and our security services have done a fantastic job keeping people safe here in the UK and we support them with the work that we do internationally. And we are also putting these sanctions in place to deter and disrupt those acts of aggression against us.”

But the announcement of a new sanctions regime will disappoint communal groups including the Board of Deputies, Jewish Leadership Council and the Conservative and Labour Friends of Israel organisations who have argued that the IRGC should be proscribed as they represent a threat to Israelis living here, along with other Jewish individuals.

A letter sent by the all-party British Israeli parliamentary group in April  said: “The government must follow its earlier decisions to proscribe Hamas and Hezbollah as terror groups by going ‘after the parent organisation’ because it is the ‘primary financier, supplier, and trainer of these dangerous groups’.”

Labour, along with several senior Tories have backed calls for proscription under the 2000 Terrorism Act, or through an amendment to make it possible to ban a state organisation.

The Foreign Office said it was expanding the sanctions criteria because “Iran has increased its efforts to kill or kidnap individuals perceived to be enemies of the regime outside of Iran, including in the UK.
“Since the start of 2022, the UK has responded to more than 15 credible threats to kill or kidnap British or UK-based individuals by the Iranian regime”. 

Jewish News understands that there were fears within the government that proscription would have ended all diplomatic contact with Tehran.

One well-placed source said that even though Israel officially backed calls for the UK to take the toughest action possible against Iran, there was an unofficial benefit for the Jewish state “which no-one will ever publicly admit” if Britain kept at least some diplomatic channels open with Tehran.

Proscription would have made it a criminal offence in the UK to belong to the group, fund or express support the IRGC , which is at the heart of the Iranian military structure.

The sanction announcement came as the UK ministers faced criticism at home for the response to a critical parliamentary report on the handling of hostage-taking of dual British nationals in Iran.

The Foreign Office has defended its performance but Richard Ratcliffe, husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – who was detained by Tehran for six years.