Ayatollah Khamenei. Image Credit: Tasnim News, CC BY 4.0.
The UK government is reportedly preparing to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, following a longstanding campaign by LFI and many Jewish community groups.
The IRGC is a hugely influential apparatus of the Iranian state, spearheading operations against opponents of the regime at home and abroad, especially in entrenching Iran’s influence in Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon in the last decade.
Proscribing the IRGC would bring the UK into line with the United States, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
LFI has led the campaign to proscribe the IRGC in Parliament, with LFI officers and supporters pushing the government for action in countless debates, Urgent Questions and Foreign Office Questions sessions.
Most recently, LFI chair Steve McCabe MP wrote to the Foreign Secretary demanding IRGC proscription amongst a number of other measures against Tehran.
The government has until now refused to commit when asked, often with blanket refusals to “speculate” about future proscriptions.
The news, reported in the Daily Telegraph on 2 January, has not yet been confirmed by the UK government.
Speaking at the weekend, Labour’s shadow Middle East minister Bambos Charalambous confirmed that Labour supported the move.