Men of Middle Eastern and Eastern European origin living in Britain are being recruited as would-be terrorists by the Iranian military operatives who groom them online.
An arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) has used the internet and social media to put in place an informal but complex mosaic of sleeper cells and lone-wolf operatives across the country, ready to act at the behest of the regime.
Their role is chiefly to spy, intimidate and harass, but MI5 agents have uncovered at least one major bomb plot which could have been as devastating as the 7/7 London bombings.
Britain’s security services keep a watching brief on the movements of these Iranian “sleeper cells” but they are deliberately designed to provide plausible deniability for the regime in Tehran and be near impossible to fully counter.
But in recent years the security services have foiled multiple plots to commit murder or atrocities on British soil.
The claims emerged on the eve of one of the biggest protests against the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Islamic dictatorship ever seen, which takes place in Brussels on Saturday. Tens of thousands of ex-pat Iranians and opponents of the murderous regime in Tehran will hear addresses from key supporters including Donald Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence, European Parliament’s Brexit Minister Guy Verhofstadt and Britain’s John Bercow.
Andreas Krieg, Associate Professor of Security Studies at Kings College, in London, said: “In Britain it’s not quite sleeper cells, it’s more the co-ordination of useful idiots… a lot of people who like the regime in Iran and want to do their dirty work for them.
“Iran’s strategy generally is a network strategy, a mosaic. The most powerful weapon Iran has is not ballistic missiles but this network, not just in Britain but across the world. The biggest threat from Iran is not a nuclear missile, it is on Britain’s streets.
“The IRGC is heavily invested in this, it’s part of Iran’s irregular warfare. This way they might not be able to win the war but they will never lose it either.
“These people are directly or indirectly connected to the IRGC or the Ministry of Intelligence. There is no direct link to the regime of course, they are not usually sent as agents, they could be Romanian nationals or Afghans… but they are all likely to be Shia Muslims with a grudge against the West, America and Israel. They are identified and approached, usually online by the IRGC or their proxies.”
Prof Krieg added that much of the work of the sleepers was surveillance and harassment of Iranian dissidents or Israeli nationals.
“It’s about intimidation. A lot of countries do it, I have been followed myself.”
Director General of MI5, Ken McCallum, confirmed that since 2022, MI5 along with police, had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents.
A spokesman for Britain’s Counter Terrorism Police said: “At a time when we are witnessing sabotage attacks directed by Russia and espionage operations by China, Iran continues to source violence in the UK and Europe.
“The theocratic regime of Iran shows no reservations in sponsoring violence on the streets of the UK.
“We are alive to the persistent and enduring threat posed to the UK by the state of Iran.”
The demonstration in Brussels on Saturday has been organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and over 300 Iranian communities across Europe.
Shahin Gobadi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said: “Terrorism is in the DNA of this regime. So long as it remains in power, it will not abandon repression at home and terrorism abroad. Tens of thousands of Iranians from across Europe will gather in Brussels on Saturday to reject both foreign war and appeasement, and to support Maryam Rajavi’s Third Option: regime change by the Iranian people and their organized resistance.
Maryam Rajavi has been elected by the National Council of Resistance of Iran as the President of Iran for the transitional period following the overthrow of the clerical regime.”
Among the demonstrator’s demands is that the UK and EU designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity.
Before heading off for the Brussels demonstration John Bercow told Express.co.uk: “”I support the NCRI as it offers an alternative to the despotic tyranny of the Iranian mullahs. Over decades, it has fought against dictatorship, the dictatorship of the Shah and, for the last 46 years, the dictatorship of the clerics. The NCRI, led by the magnificent Maryam Rajavi, has championed freedom, democracy and the cause of a secular Republic in Iran. At every turn, its resistance units have opposed one of the most brutal and bloodthirsty regimes on the face of the planet. The NCRI deserves support and mine is wholehearted.
“The Iranian Government rules by terror and is hostile to our values. It is guilty of the most egregious human rights abuses as it strives to cling to power against the popular clamour for change. Change can come and change will come when the international community treats the Iranian Government as a pariah and supports the demand for that change”.