The new legislation would cover state-based threats rather than terrorist organisations and would be tougher than the current National Security Act.
Three Iranian men were charged under the existing legislation on Saturday, on suspicion of spying for Iran’s foreign intelligence service – the first Iranians to face such charges. The Foreign Office summoned Iran’s ambassador on Monday.
In his 30-page review, Hall recommended a ban under the National Security Act 2023 on state actors or private entities acting on behalf of foreign intelligence services.
He called for the government to be empowered to issue “statutory alert and liability threat notices against foreign intelligence services”, which he said would be “an equivalent to proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000”.
The IRGC is not currently a proscribed organisation, although Labour pledged to outlaw it if elected. This new legislation would effectively deliver on that commitment.
Under the proposals, the IRGC could be targeted with a new “strong power” designation. Hall also recommended introducing additional criminal offences for individuals who invite support for or display the insignia of foreign intelligence services.
The report further called for enhanced police powers, including the ability to erect cordons around areas subject to state threat investigations, to conduct suspicionless stop and searches when dealing with “high threat” situations or locations such as the Israeli embassy, and to carry out post-charge interviews in cases involving state threat offences.
Hall further recommended that the police should be able to seize passports on the basis of suspected foreign power threat activity, as currently exists in terrorism cases, and be given the relocation power in a wider range of state threat cases.
Yvette Cooper welcomed recommendations made by counter-terror expert Jonathan Hall KC in his independent review of terrorism and state threat legislation, published on Monday. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)Getty Images
The Home Secretary pledged to “create a new power of proscription to cover state threats”.
She said this would be stronger than current national security act powers “in allowing us to restrict the activity and operations of foreign state-backed organisations in the UK, including new criminal offences for individuals who invite support for or promote the group in question".
Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, were remanded in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday. They are charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist the Iranian foreign intelligence service between 14 August 2024 and 16 February 2025. They arrived in the UK via a lorry and small boat.
Referring to the arrests, Cooper said the government would be enforcing “further action on Iran and strengthening our border security to keep the public safe”.
“This is the first time there have been charges under the National Security Act linked to Iran, although the House will be aware that this comes against a backdrop of rising numbers of Iran-linked operations on UK soil where there have been repeated warnings by ministers, the police and our security and intelligence agencies,” she said.
“The Director General of MI5 said in October last year that the police and MI5 had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots presenting potentially lethal threats.”
The chair of Labour Friends of Israel, Jon Pearce MP, said: “The IRGC is plotting terrorist attacks, inciting violence and spreading antisemitism on Britain’s streets. Recent arrests once again show that it is a clear and present danger to the security and safety of the British people.
“LFI has consistently called for Tehran’s terror army to be banned and we welcome Jonathan Hall’s proposals for a new power of proscription for state threats. These measures will fulfil Labour’s manifesto pledge after years of tough talk but no action on the part of successive Tory governments.”
The Board of Deputies commented, “We welcome the Home Secretary's announcement of a new power of proscription to cover state threats.
“The Board of Deputies has long been campaigning for our Government to bring forward additional measures to tackle the threat of terrorism to Jews and wider UK society.
“We urge the Government to use this new power to proscribe Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as soon as possible. We are all too familiar with the serious threat the Islamic Republic of Iran poses to UK society, as recent arrests have shown.”
