The threat to the UK from Iran is already at a “significant level” and could increase following the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, a cabinet minister has told Sky News.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said that “not a week goes by” without an Iranian cyberattack on the country’s critical national infrastructure.
Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Mr Reynolds said: “There is Iranian activity on the streets of the UK, which is wholly unacceptable.”
And he said it would be “naive” to think the threat will not escalate as Tehran could seek to retaliate against the US, Israel and their allies.
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Early on Sunday, the American military struck three sites as it joined Israel‘s effort to destroy Iran‘s nuclear programme. B-2 bombers dropped 14 bunker-busting GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, each weighing 30,000lbs. Iran has maintained its programme is for peaceful purposes only.
President Trump called the strikes “a spectacular military success” and claimed Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated.”
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He called on Iran not to retaliate, saying the government “must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier”.
Mr Reynolds said Iran had a choice – “Do they want to continue being an agent of instability in the region and the wider world? Where has that got them? Where has it got the Iranian people?
“There’s a better course of action for Iran to take here, and I think they should consider that.”
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Last October, MI5 chief Ken McCallum said authorities had stopped 20 state-backed plots hatched by Iran in the UK since 2022.
And in December, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warned that Iran “is developing its cyber capabilities and is willing to target the UK to fulfil its disruptive and destructive objectives”.
In February 2023, a London-based Iranian news station said it was forced to shut its UK headquarters over alleged threats from Tehran and fears for the safety of its journalists.
Iran International TV said it “reluctantly” closed its west London studios and moved the operation to its offices in Washington DC.
The broadcaster said the move followed warnings from the Metropolitan Police that there were “serious” and “grave” concerns about “hostile intentions of foreign states”.
In December 2023, a Chechen-born man was sentenced to three years and six months in prison after being found guilty of spying on the London-based dissident Iranian TV station to help terror plotters.
Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, 31, was accused of conducting surveillance on the west London headquarters of Iran International as part of a plan by others to carry out a terror attack.
He was found guilty of one charge of attempting to collect information useful for terrorism.
Meanwhile a British-Iranian journalist, who was told by the Metropolitan Police to leave her UK home for her own safety last year after Iran International presenter Pouria Zeraati was stabbed in the leg in London, has warned of the “dangers” if the “regime survives”.
Sima Sabet, who also worked for the Persian-language television news channel, told Sky’s Emma Birchley: “What I want, and what I hope, is this Islamic Republic is gone, because the more this regime survives, the more danger to the world it would be, the more danger to international peace, and also… the more danger to the Iranian people.”
She added: “There has to be a way that this transition is going to be peaceful. Iran cannot be bombed and then left on its own. So there must be an answer for it.
“There must be an international effort for us. So Iranian people can have a very smooth transition into democracy.”
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Two men will face trial next year accused of attacking Mr Zeraati in Wimbledon in March 2024. The defendants are charged with wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and wounding.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have called on Iran’s leaders to enter negotiations and “not to take any further action that could destabilise the region”.
Sir Keir urged Britons in Israel and Palestinian territories to make contact with the Foreign Office as it prepares for an evacuation flight early next week.
Speaking to Sky News, the prime minister said: “I urge all citizens to make contact with the Foreign Office so that we can facilitate whatever support is needed.”
The Israeli government said about 22,000 tourists are seeking to board evacuation flights but it is unclear how many of those are from the UK.
