A series of arson attacks and vandalism of Jewish properties in Britain were the work of an Iran-backed group, the UK government said on Monday.
The government said it was banning the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, or IMCR, also known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia.
It has also banned Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards as a national security threat. Destroying these organizations will be punishable up to life in prison after Parliament passes the law, which the government expects to be in place by the end of the week.
Security Minister Angela Eagle said in a statement that IMCR had claimed seven attacks in the UK. The group said online that it was responsible for attacks on Jewish sites in London in recent months, including the burning of synagogues and ambulances belonging to the Jewish community, as well as a Persian media organization critical of the Iranian government. No one was injured in the fire.
“Sit behind the IMCR were members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force, which almost directed the IMCR attacks across Europe,” he said. The Quds, or Jerusalem, Force is the expeditionary force of the Guardians.
The group emerged online earlier this year and has also claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Law enforcement officials and intelligence experts say Iran-backed terrorist groups are responsible for an increase in the number of attacks in Europe, many targeting the Jewish community and Persian media critical of Iran’s Islamic government.
They often operate by recruiting members of criminal gangs to carry out vandalism and other attacks.
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A group under Russian military intelligence is also being investigated
Britain is also designating the GRU Volunteer Corps, a group controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency, as a national security threat, authorities said Monday. The UK says the group carries out a collection of foreign intelligence and hostile covert operations on behalf of the GRU.
Authorities said the new measures would make it easier for police and intelligence agencies to deal with what they called “criminals for hire,” or anyone who supports participating groups.
“We have already taken serious action against the Iranian regime and those linked to it, as well as against Russian operatives and networks targeting our country. These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and jail anyone doing their dirty work here in Britain,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
The ban comes under a new UK law that came into effect last week, which gives the government the power to deal with proxy organizations that carry out hostile acts on behalf of foreign nations.
Earlier this month, two Romanian men were sentenced to prison for stabbing a journalist for a Persian-language television station, an attack that the judge said was carried out on behalf of the country of Iran.
There is no immediate comment from Iran.
The European Union in January listed the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on protests.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
