Daily Mail: IRGC Encourages British Muslims to Spy for the Islamic Republic

The British newspaper Daily Mail reported, citing British and Israeli officials, that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) encourages British Muslims visiting Iran and Iraq for pilgrimage to spy on opponents of the Islamic Republic and Jewish figures in Britain. According to the newspaper, IRGC forces establish contact with British Shia pilgrims at religious sites in Iran and Iraq, especially during the Arbaeen pilgrimage, asking them to monitor prominent Jews, synagogues, Israeli and British officials, as well as opponents of the Iranian regime upon their return to their home country. Some experts suggest that some Iranians coming to study in British universities on government scholarships may be spies. The Daily Mail reports that Khosrow Ahrabi from the 'Alliance Against a Nuclear Iran' think tank states that IRGC recruiters prefer British Shia individuals of Pakistani, Iraqi, and Lebanese descent over Iranians for espionage. Another source told the Daily Mail that the reason the IRGC uses organized crime networks and British Muslims for spying is that it is very difficult for Iranian spies to operate on British soil. According to British counter-terrorism police, the IRGC uses information gathered by these spies to carry out certain attacks, as since 2022, the Iranian regime has attempted to kill or harm at least 15 of its opponents in Britain. The British weekly 'The Economist' also reported on Thursday, February 9, about the resurgence of the Islamic Republic's 'malicious activities' against its opponents abroad, particularly in Britain. The publication initially discussed the actions of the Islamic Republic during the 1980s and 1990s against dozens of its opponents in Europe and also in Britain, including an assassination attempt on Amir Hossein Amirpour, a minister of agriculture in the era of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, stating that the existence of at least 15 credible threats from the Islamic Republic to kill citizens or residents in Britain since the beginning of 2022 indicates a significant revival of such actions. In November of this year, British security officials and counter-terrorism officers announced that the Islamic Republic remains an increasing security threat to British citizens and to its opponents and critics in the country, and that the threat from Iran to the people and interests of Britain is now greater than that from China and Russia.