The UK government has announced that it will designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Russia’s military intelligence agency GRU as terrorist organisations, marking one of Britain’s strongest national‑security actions in recent years. The move, unveiled in Parliament by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, introduces sweeping new powers targeting support networks, propaganda, and foreign‑linked sabotage operations.
Mahmood told MPs that under the new rules, expressing support or assisting the IRGC or GRU will become a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison, while acts of sabotage — including arson — carried out on behalf of either group could carry life imprisonment. These measures will be incorporated into draft regulations under the National Security (State Threats) Act, pending parliamentary approval.
The IRGC, described by UK officials as the “sword‑arm of Iran’s Supreme Leader”, has been linked to multiple Islamist plots and covert operations across Europe. MI5 has reportedly identified at least 20 potentially lethal Iranian‑backed plots targeting individuals in the UK over the past year, intensifying pressure on the government to act.
Russia’s GRU has long been accused of conducting aggressive assassination and cyberwarfare campaigns on foreign soil. Western governments have tied the agency to the 2018 Salisbury nerve‑agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, as well as the 2015 poisoning of Bulgarian arms dealer Emiliyan Gebrev, his son, and an associate — incidents linked to Ukraine‑related weapons supply.
Mahmood said Iran and Russia have increasingly relied on proxies and criminal networks to carry out operations abroad, and confirmed that the UK will also ban the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), which has claimed recent attacks on Jewish properties in London.
The government says the designations will make prosecutions faster and more straightforward, removing the need to prove foreign‑power involvement in every case.