Legislation will be brought before the House of Commons in July to ban the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday, The Jewish Chronicle reported.
Starmer said this while speaking during a solidarity trip to Kenton United Synagogue in London following the attempted arson at that institution on April 18.
Starmer visited the synagogue alongside Chief British Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.
The prime minister said he was “very worried” about the use of proxies by the Iranian regime. Legislation would be brought forward when the parliamentary session resumes in July, to proscribe the IRGC, he said.
“In relation to malign state actors more generally, proscription, we do need legislation in order to take necessary measures, and that is legislation that we’re bringing forward as soon as we can. We go into a new session in a few weeks’ time, and we’ll bring that legislation forward,” The Chronicle quoted Starmer as saying.
Under Starmer, the Labour Party, when it was in the opposition, pledged to ban the IRGC.
Starmer on Thursday also reacted to an increase in immigration by British Jews to Israel. Last year, 872 Brits made aliyah, despite the war with Iran. This was a 40-year high, according to the Jewish Chronicle, and a significant increase not only compared to the years 2023-2024, but also to pre-war levels (572 and 681 in 2021-2022.)
“I want to make Britain a country where our Jewish community feels safe, as they have done for a very long time, and into the future. I’m determined to do that. That means making clear that we stand alongside our Jewish community,” Starmer said about the aliyah figures, which are widely understood to reflect the effects of antisemitism.
An Iranian-backed group
Starmer commented on the fact that Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI), a radical jihadist group, had claimed responsibility for the arson attempt at the synagogue. It has also claimed responsibility for the March 23 torching of four ambulances belonging to the Hatzola Northwest Jewish emergency response group in London, among other terrorist actions since March. Starmer called the jihadist group “Iranian-backed.”
He said, “Obviously, there’s been a claim here by an Iranian-backed group. … And that’s why, first of all, it’s very important that our police, our counter-terrorism police, work very closely with the community and with CST so that we can take the necessary criminal justice action.”
CST, Community Security Trust, is British Jewry’s watchdog on antisemitism and security organ. There have been “a number of arrests already” in connection with the HAYI-linked incidents in the U.K., Starmer added. “I think eight people charged, one convicted. It’s very important that we’re able to show the criminal justice system can react effectively and efficiently here,” he said.
Mirvis described the mood within British Jewry with “two words: anxiety and resilience,” he said during a roundtable conversation between the prime minister and community members.
British Jews, he continued, are “going through exceptionally challenging times” and are “filled with anxiety at this time. At the same time, we are a strong community, we respond with fortitude and great resilience. We as British Jews will face this and everything that comes our way in the future with great fortitude.”
Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg welcomed Starmer’s pledge to advance a ban of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the coming weeks.
“This is something the Board of Deputies and communal partners have long called for, and these calls have intensified over recent weeks,” Rosenberg wrote in a statement.
“We will be engaging with the Government to ensure the requisite actions are taken to keep our community and our country safe from the Iranian and wider Islamist threat.”
