British spy chiefs will be expecting a higher level of threat from Iranian agents in the wake of US attacks on the country, a security expert has warned. Iran has vowed to retaliate after American forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites overnight, with Donald Trump claiming the facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated”.
Professor Anthony Glees, from the University of Buckingham, told the Express that the UK appears “vulnerable” and MI5 will “absolutely” be preparing for a heightened Iranian threat. He raised fears of possible attacks and claimed the UK should be concerned about potential Iranian agents “posing as students on overseas student visas”. “All of these will need to be looked at immediately,” he added.
The man is alleged to have kept the RAF Akrotiri base on the island under surveillance for Iran.
Professor Glees said Britain is “clearly seen as a soft touch” and expressed concerns over the Government’s “far too weak” response to pro-Palestinian activists breaking into the RAF’s biggest base, Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, and vandalising two aircraft.
Downing Street said security is being reviewed across the defence estate, and it is understood the Home Secretary is preparing to ban Palestine Action after the group sprayed two Voyager tankers in red paint.
Professor Glees said the UK should not get involved with Israeli and American strikes on Iran, which has denied building nuclear weapons.
“It’s a death blow to Iranian nuclear ambitions,” he said. “I think it is a death blow to the Ayatollahs.
“I’ve said before, we should stay out of it, but basically this is very good news for us and we can all breathe a sigh of relief [over degrading Iran’s believed nuclear threat], providing nothing happens.
“The trouble is, wars are easy to start but much harder to stop.”
He added: “Trump is on the nose when he says Iran has been a sponsor of terrorism throughout the world since 1979, and this is a chance to reverse engineer all of that, so I don’t think they should stop [carrying out strikes].
“We shouldn’t be part of it unless we’re attacked, but let the Americans and Israelis go hell for leather and finish this off.”
Iran has maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful, and the country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran “reserves all options” to retaliate.
America’s top military chief said the US launched around 75 precision-guided weapons on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities in the attack in the early hours of Sunday.