OPINION: How much longer can the UK ignore mounting evidence of this existential threat?

The evidence that the Iranian government poses an alarming threat to UK interests is growing by the day. In a recent article, Kasra Aarabi, the Iran program lead at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and journalist David Rose, reported that, since 2020, the Islamic Students Association of Britain (ISA) has presented a series of online talks featuring no fewer than eight IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) commanders, three of whom are on the UK sanctions list.

These commanders called on their listeners to join a jihadist ‘apocalyptic war’ against non-Muslims, promoted Holocaust denial and other forms of hate speech and urged listeners to ‘raise the flag of the Islamic revolution’.

As the authors say, it is abhorrent that students are being pumped with such violent, racist propaganda and there is a strong argument that it constitutes a clear form of incitement to commit terrorist acts. It is another reason why the IRGC should be banned in the UK.

In the discussions that my organisation, B’nai B’rith UK, has had with diplomats and civil servants, the reasons given against banning the IRGC are as follows: prohibition could lead to the closure of the UK embassy in Tehran, denying the country a secure base to help British citizens as well as shuttering a valuable centre of intelligence; it could threaten the prospects of UK citizens in Iran; it would close off a valuable opportunity to communicate with the Iranian government on a number of key issues, including attempts to resolve the Iranian nuclear weapons programme.

Yet the arguments for banning the IRGC remain extremely strong. The IRGC is not like the conventional armed forces of other nations. Instead, it is an ideological army which is at the forefront of promoting the revolutionary activities of the Islamic Republic. It has led the way in plotting terrorist attacks on behalf of the Iranian government for over 40 years, with its violent and illicit acts including assassinations, hijackings and hostage taking.

It has disseminated radical Islamist propaganda in Western countries and called on recruits to kill the ‘enemies of Islam’, among them Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and opponents of the clerical regime.

Thus, the violent speeches delivered to the ISA are emblematic of the hardline ideology of this group and provide compelling evidence of its campaigns to nurture homegrown extremists. The IRGC also supports ‘armed resistance to the state of Israel’, code for seeking the destruction of the Jewish state. Its aims are no different to those of ISIS or Hezbollah.

Proscribing this group sends a clear message to Tehran that its subversive campaigns against western countries will not be tolerated and that new followers of the IRGC will face criminal charges.

Banning the organisation will not close the door to dialogue between the UK and Iran, assuming that this is what the latter wants.

As proof, communication between the UK government and Lebanon continued despite the 2019 ban on Hezbollah. More to the point, there is cross-party political will for proscribing the IRGC, given that Parliament has already voted unanimously for this action.

The case for proscription has been made all the more necessary by recent developments. In 2023, the UK’s MI5 Director General, Ken McCallum, revealed that the Iranian government was behind at least ten credible threats to ‘kidnap or even kill British or UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the regime’ and that Iran was using ‘coercion, intimidation, and violence to pursue its interests’.

Intimidating threats made to the dissident group, Iran international TV, forced the station to close its London studios. Continuing to appease Tehran by allowing the IRGC to operate only increases the risks of further outrages.

Ultimately, Tehran heads a rogue regime that aims to destabilise all its key neighbours, including Israel, while posing an alarming threat to European nations. It is incumbent on the UK government to deal with this threat in a robust fashion and without further delay.

Banning the IRGC is a first step in the right direction.

• Jeremy Havardi is B’nai B’rith UK’s Bureau of International affairs, which has just produced a research document: A Growing Danger: How the Islamic Republic of Iran poses an escalating threat to the Middle East and the West.