Members of British Parliament are calling on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to follow America’s lead and officially list the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps as a terrorist group.
Suella Braverman, the UK’s former ex-Home Secretary, and Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said their nation must denounce the IRGC after Tehran’s attack against Israel last week that saw some 300 drones and missiles fired at the Jewish state.
“We have known for years the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism, funding and promoting terrorist plots, radicalization and hostage-taking both in the Middle East and at home,” Braverman told The Sun.
“We have proscribed Hezbollah, we have proscribed Hamas, Prime Minister, why don’t we put the UK’s national security first by now proscribing the IRGC,” Braverman added.
Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the Houthi rebels who have caused chaos in the Red Sea and Yemen, are all backed by Iran and are listed in America’s Foreign Terrorist Organizations list.
The IRGC has been on the same US list since April 15, 2019.
Smith echoed Duncan’s call and said the designation would help fight extremism abroad and highlight Iran’s role in supporting terror cells wrecking havoc in the region.
“All roads lead back to Tehran when it comes to the terrible violence and the wars that take place in the Middle East,” Smith told The Sun.
The British government has resisted demands so far to ban the group, often citing the importance of keeping diplomatic channels open with Tehran.
Sunak’s office has yet to respond to the latest calls made by British lawmakers.
The UK has faced ongoing threats from Iran, with the IRGS accused of more than a dozen assassination attempts and kidnappings in Britain, the Sunday Times reports.
Many of the alleged attacks have been focused on Iran International, an oppositions media outlet based in London that has published footage undermining Tehran’s rule.
The media outlet published satellite images Sunday of the Eighth Shekari airbase, which was allegedly attacked in an Israeli airstrike that leveled a radar system unit near a nuclear site.
Tehran had initially dismissed the attack, claiming the explosions were merely small and a result of its own air-defense system taking out three drones near the airbase.
Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit international organization that safeguards the right to freedom to information, warned the UK last week that London has become a “particular hotspot” where Iranian journalists are facing threats of repression.