See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT and DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 12:41 BST, 13 July 2026 | Updated: 15:15 BST, 13 July 2026
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will be banned by Sir Keir Starmer under new powers fast-tracked through Parliament.The IRGC, the feared military arm of the Iranian regime, will be designated a threat to national security with its members facing life imprisonment. The Iranian group Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), and Russia’s GRU military intelligence volunteer corps will also be banned under the proposals. The Prime Minister said: 'We will never let Britain be a playground for states who want to spread fear, division and violence on our streets.'We have already taken tough action against the Iranian regime and those linked to it, and against Russian operatives and networks targeting our country.'These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work here in Britain.'He added: 'Anyone acting on behalf of those who threaten our national security should be in no doubt that there is no place for you in Britain.'We will find you and you will face the full force of the law.'Officials said the moves came after the IMCR publicly claimed seven attacks in the UK locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities, including March's anti-Semitic arson attack on four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force 'almost certainly directed' IMCR attacks across Europe, they added.Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: 'Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores.'I have rapidly designated three groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars.'I will leave no stone unturned to keep our country safe.'The new powers to create 'designated groups' come under the new National Security (State Threats) Act, which passed into law last week.They allow state-backed groups to be outlawed in the same way that existing 'proscription' measures are used to target terrorist organisations.If the new designation regulations are approved by Parliament, it will be a criminal offence to support, assist or obtain a material benefit from a designated body. Anyone convicted of conducting acts of sabotage - including arson - on behalf of the groups could face life imprisonment. Supporting or assisting the groups could result in a 14-year prison sentence. Lord Walney, a former government independent adviser on political violence and disruption, welcomed the move, but said it did not amount to 'full proscription'.He said: 'After years of campaigning, it is very welcome to see the IRGC finally banned.'This group has exported terror and extremism onto British streets on behalf of the Iranian regime for too long.'This designation falls short of full proscription under the Terrorism Act, so the incoming prime minister must monitor carefully whether these laws are adequate to keep our streets safe.'Dr Alan Mendoza, executive director of anti-extremism think-tank the Henry Jackson Society, said: 'The IRGC has both plotted terrorism on our shores and successfully actioned it.'It is an integral part of the Iranian web of overseas nefarious activity that has brought violence not simply to the Middle East but far further afield.'Years of campaigning have been proven correct by today's move, but the shame remains that it took this long to achieve a result that successive governments risibly claimed was impossible to achieve even as other allies were able to do so.'Welcome as today's progress undoubtedly is, we simply must do better in future when it comes to finding appropriate ways to safeguard our national security.'
