British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will be designated a threat to national security.

Mahmood will use new government powers to ban support for the group, which has been linked to death threats and intimidation in the UK.

In a written statement to Parliament, she set out how support for the IRGC, from expressing a positive opinion to assisting them, will now be an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Two other groups are also being proscribed, the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), and the volunteer corps of Russia's GRU (foreign military intelligence agency).

The prime minister promised to fast-track the National Security (State Threats) Act in April this year, and draft regulations for proscription can now be laid before parliament.

The Home Secretary is satisfied that the statutory test is met in respect of the three bodies, Home Office minister Angela Eagle said in a written statement, adding: "The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a central component of the Iranian state's security apparatus, answerable directly to Iran's Supreme Leader.

“Its role extends far beyond that of a conventional military force. It encompasses intelligence activity, the use of proxy actors, and the projection of influence designed to advance Iranian state objectives.”

Source: BBC

– Agencies