Iran is conducting a “systematic campaign” against UK interests that should be met with offensive action by security services, a politician and former British Army officer has said.
Mike Martin, who served on several tours with the Intelligence Corps in Afghanistan, urged Britain's Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to take much tougher action against the regime, which has been blamed for several attacks and plots, including the recent incident at RAF Fairford, a base that had been used by US aircraft. Seven men have been arrested and released on bail while inquiries into a potential bomb plot continue, with the US withdrawing its B-1 bomber aircraft in the meantime.
Two Iranians have been arrested for allegedly planning a lethal attack on Manchester’s Jewish community.
Ms Mahmood announced on Monday that the government has created a specialist counter-terrorism section to tackle state threats from countries such as Iran.
However, after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he suspected the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind the Fairford incident, Mr Martin told parliament during an urgent debate on UK national security: “I think it’s safe to say that there’s a systematic Iranian campaign on British soil.”
The Liberal Democrat MP, who sits on the defence committee, said the government’s measures against Iran, which included imposing sanctions on the head of counter-espionage operations in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and summoning the Iranian ambassador in London, were “largely defensive in nature”.
“Sometimes offence is the best form of defence, and I wonder whether the Home Secretary has considered that perhaps we need to increase the costs on the Iranians for their actions and considered signalling that fact to the Iranians to deter them from future activity?” Mr Martin said.
Former deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden told parliament on Monday that Iran considered the UK its enemy and “smells weakness”. He said Iran had attempted attacks at bases in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, Akrotiri in Cyprus and Fairford in Gloucestershire.
The UK introduced sanctions on the IRGC in July, after the first two incidents and a series of attacks against dissidents in previous years.
Ms Mahmood said the threats from Iran have been discussed with Britain’s allies. “We will always make sure we take both collective action to deal with the threats we all face, but also make sure we are always protecting the British national interests,” she said.
She said she would not provide “a running commentary on wider discussions”, but added the government “will always take every appropriate step to keep our people safe”.
In her statement, Ms Mahmood outlined how the new National Security Act gives the government “powerful new tools to tackle state threats”. She announced her department was “building a specialist mission in counterterror policing to disrupt state threats and tightening security around military bases”.
Britain will also establish a National Centre for Information Defence to tackle disinformation from states and will give “intelligence agencies and police stronger powers to bear down on cybercriminals”.
In addressing the threat posed by states such as Iran, she said: “Make no mistake: our police and security services are on permanent watch.”
Foreign ministries from almost 30 countries including the US, Canada, France and Germany, issued a statement on Monday condemning “Iran’s use of violent attacks, including the acts of lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber attacks, and other hybrid activities against us and our partners”.
“The UK has also concluded this event demonstrates the IRGC’s continued willingness to project hostile activity beyond its borders through covert networks and proxy actors,” the statement added.
Mr Burnham said: “We will not tolerate these threats on our soil. We will crack down on Iran’s use of criminal networks using our full range of powers to target them and their funding streams. And we will bring further sanctions to restrict the capacity if Iran and the IRGC do us harm.”