Braverman calls Iranian state ‘biggest threat to UK’: Report

Britain's home secretary Suella Braverman has said that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the biggest threat to Britain's national security, amid fresh evidence of its reach into the country.

Braverman expressed fears that the group is stepping up its activities and is concerned by intelligence reports on Iranian spies attempting to recriut members of organised crime gangs to target opponents of the regime.

“The Iranian threat is the one that worries us the most,” a source close to the home secretary said as quoted by The Times “It’s a big issue because they are getting much more aggressive and their appetite is increasing. They are very defensive to anyone challenging their regime and just want to stamp it out. They are increasing their agitation.”

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There have been calls for Iran's Revolutionary Guard to be proscribed as a terror organisation but such efforts have met resistance from UK's Foreign Office which has expressed concerns that such a move may permanently damage diplomatic relations between the UK and Iran.

The Sunday Times has said that it had information that reveals details of close ties between the Islamic Republic and a student organisation which is based in former Methodist church in Hammersmith, west London.

The Islamic Students Association, the student organisation, was reportedly founded to champion political and religious philosophy of Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran who led 1979 Islamic revolution in the country.

In the month of January this year, Mohammam Hussain Ataee, a former chairman of the association and a master's degree student at the University of Bradford, made a trip to Tehran. He met Khamanei there and a picture of him kneeling solemnly before Khamanei (84). He later received a 'blessed' keffiyeh, which is a traditional Arabic headdress as a gift.

The association's Telegram channel had reportedly made posts praising Qasem Soleimani who was a senior military officer in the Revolutionary Guards who was killed by the US. These posts described Soleimani as a "martyr" and a leader of "resistance". Another prominent Iranian figure, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh who is the assassinated chief scientists of Iran's nuclear programme was called a "martyr" in these posts.

Earlier this year, UK's Foreign Secretary Secretary James Cleverly had announced sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guards. But now, pressure from lawmakers in the British Parliament is increasing to proscribe the Guards.

US and Canada, two of Britain's allies in Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance have taken steps to move in such direction.

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