Officials issue warning to UK over 'physical' threat’ from Iran
British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee issued a new report
Rhianna Benson
Parliament's intelligence watchdog has declared that the risk of physical attacks on British soil has increased 'significantly' as a result of tensions in the Middle East.
According to a new report from the Intelligence and Security Committee, Iran specifically poses a 'wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat' to UK citizens at the moment.
Sky News allege that the study added that the rise has been gradual since 2022, but is now at an all time high.
Iran's intelligence services are also said to be 'willing and able - often through third party agents - to attempt assassination within the UK'.
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These groups also have the aptitude to 'kidnap from' Britain, adding that 15 murder or kidnap attempts against residents of the country have been made in the last three years.
"Whilst Iran's activity appears to be less strategic and on a smaller scale than Russia and China, Iran poses a wide-ranging threat to UK national security, which should not be underestimated: it is persistent and crucially - unpredictable," the report's author explained.
Arguably more alarming, is that the Intelligence and Security Committee went on to emphasise that, whilst these threats are often focussed on political enemies or opposers to a specific regime being pushed, the threat is wider given current tensions.
More specifically, members of the committee believe attacks to Jewish or Israeli interests in the UK are a considerably possibility.
The watchdog also took aim at the British government in this respect, accusing them of 'fire-fighting' the fall-out between Iran and Israel (whose financial and political interests were previously backed by US President, Donald Trump), instead of attempting to understand Iran's aims.
"The government's policy on Iran has suffered from a focus on crisis management, driven by concerns over Iran's nuclear programme, to the exclusion of other issues," the author continued.
"As one of our expert witnesses told the committee: 'Strategy is not a word that I think has crossed the lips of policy makers for a while, certainly not in relation to Iran'."
The report also mentions Iran's nuclear aims, adding that, despite the country not having developed viable weapons yet, this is very much on the cards in the coming years.
It added that Iran had only been 'broadly compliant' with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is aimed at limiting the country's nuclear ambitions.
This nuclear threat is said to have worsened since Trump withdrew from this deal three tears later, giving Tehran 'the capability to arm in a relatively short period'.
The American leader claimed last month to have 'totally obliterated' three of the country's nuclear sites in in response to a sleeper-cell terror threat made by Iran.
Iranian officials themselves had also fired three ballistic missiles at a US airbase in Qatar.
Trump's assertion was subsequently refuted in leaked information, which argued that the Iranian sites had not been 'completely' destroyed after all, and that their nuclear mission has simply been pushed back several months.
It also alleged that Iran's enriched uranium supply was still intact.
After Israel launched missiles at long-term enemy Iran in June (amidst the simultaneous crisis occurring Gaza), the Iranian Supreme Leader condemned Trump, 79, for his subsequently involvement in bombing its nuclear bases.
From a bunker deep below the ground, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote on social media on Thursday (26 Jun): "The American regime entered a direct war because it felt that if it did not, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed.
"However, it gained no achievements from this war. Here, too, the Islamic Republic emerged victorious, and in return, the Islamic Republic delivered a hard slap to America’s face."
Iran has not yet issued a direct, explicit threat against the UK, or British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer.