People working on behalf of Iran in any capacity in the United Kingdom must register with the state or face five years in prison, Dan Jarvis, the British minister of state, said on Tuesday.
“They will face a choice—expose their actions to the government or face jail,” Jarvis stated.
The British minister said that it is “no secret that there is a long-standing pattern of targeting Jewish and Israeli people internationally by the Iranian Intelligence Services.”
“It is clear that these plots are a conscious strategy of the Iranian regime to stifle criticism through intimidation and fear,” he added. “These threats are unacceptable. They must and will be defended against at every turn.”
Jonathan Harounoff, the international spokesman for the Israeli mission to the United Nations and the author of Unveiled, a forthcoming book about Iran’s WomanLifeFreedom movement, told JNS that Iran “has a disturbing track record of executing covert foreign influence campaigns and violence globally, including in the UK.”
“This move by the UK is a positive step toward cracking down on the Islamic Republic’s influence and reach in the UK,” Harounoff said. “In the UK, we saw in recent years regime-linked agents attempt to assassinate, attack, harass and stab dissidents, including journalists like Pouria Zeraati, who was brutally stabbed in London in March 2024, as well as plots to kill two more Iran International TV presenters, Fardad Farahzad and Sima Sabet.”
British intelligence agencies and law enforcement have prevented at least 20 Iranian-backed attempted attacks on its citizens. Iran was also behind an attempt to kill U.S. President Donald Trump on the campaign trail and to kill Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American activist and author, in her home in New York, according to Harounoff.
“With today’s announcement, the UK is sending an unequivocal message that the Islamic Republic’s covert operations will not be tolerated on its shores,” he said.
