UK imposes sanctions on Iranian Revolutionary Guards

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has issued a tough new series of measures being against Iranian officials and the country’s notorious Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) “in its entirety”.

The IRGC, a feared arm of the Iranian government, has been designated as a terror group by America, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. It has repeatedly been accused of responsibility for carrying out attacks on Jews in diaspora communities.

Cleverly’s announcement came on the heels of his previous sanctions on “the morality police and the judges who have been persecuting protesters in Iran”.

The Foreign Secretary has spoken of “a sordid alliance” between Russia and Iran, which has supplied weapons to the Russian military for use in the Ukraine war. In one of the last parliamentary sessions before the Christmas recess, Cleverly said: “These protests in Iran are a watershed moment. After years of repression, the Iranian people have clearly had enough.

“They are standing up to the authoritarian regime under which they live. Sadly, the regime has responded in the only way it knows: with violence.

“The UK is committed to holding Iran to account, including with more than 300 sanctions — including the sanctioning of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety. We will continue to work with partners to challenge the regime’s aggression at home and its disruptive behaviour in the region.”

Writing in the Guardian, Cleverly said he was determined to put his money where his mouth was as far as Britain was concerned in pushing for sanctions against deplorable regimes. He said: “I hope you will not hear me utter the well-worn phrases: ‘I am concerned by…’, or ‘I am gravely concerned by …’ or, worst of all, ‘I am deeply concerned by…,’ without also saying what I am doing.

“Our diplomats are not commentators offering thoughts and analysis; they are players on the pitch. Britain has agency and leverage and we are using it to shape the course of events.”