Jewish leaders and experts on Iran have said the UK's decision to apply tougher sanctions against the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards does not go far enough and that the group should be fully proscribed as a terror outfit.
On Thursday, James Cleverly announced plans for a new sanctions regime that would supposedly give the UK greater powers to target Iranian "decision makers" responsible for hostile activities around the world.
But Claudia Mendoza, co-CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council, told the JC: “It’s unclear what these sanctions will actually do to thwart Iran’s activities.
"They should certainly not come at the expense of dealing with the root of the problem, the IRGC, which should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.”
The Board of Deputies said that it commended the tougher line on Tehran, but added: "we reiterate our belief that the UK needs to proscribe the IRGC as an organisation, in full."
"The Iranian regime uses the IRGC to brutally suppress its own people, spread antisemitic propaganda and sponsor global terrorism," it said.
Kasra Aarabi, Iran Programme Lead at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said that the existing sanctions regime on the IRGC was "not sufficient and has many loopholes", adding: “The failure to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation puts UK citizens at direct risk, not least members of the Iranian diaspora and Jewish community—who are the main targets of IRGC terrorism.”
Asset freezes and travel bans under the existing sanctions regime against 13 individuals and entities were also revealed by Cleverly.
Those targeted include the IRGC’s Cyber Defence Command, which reportedly monitors the online activity of dissidents within Iran, and Heidar Pasandideh, the governor of the notoriously brutal Sanandaj Prison.
James Cleverly said: "The Iranian regime is oppressing its own people, exporting bloodshed in Ukraine and the Middle East, and threatening to kill and kidnap on UK soil.
“Today the UK has sent a clear message to the regime – we will not tolerate this malign behaviour and we will hold you to account.
“Our new sanctions regime will help to ensure there can be no hiding place for those who seek to do us harm.”
In recent months, the government has faced increasing demands to ban the IRGC in its entirety.
In January, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the body was “behaving like a terrorist organisation and must now be proscribed as such”.
James Cleverly
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has so far declined to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (Photo: Henry Nicholls - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
In April, over 100 MPs and members of the House of Lords wrote to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to say that the group was “openly operating” in Britain.
“The IRGC has been systematically destabilising the Middle East since the Islamic Revolution, killing thousands,” the letter read.
“This threat is no longer thousands of miles away because the IRGC is now openly operating on our shores.”
While Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Security Minister Tom Tugendhat are thought to be in favour of proscription, the Foreign Office has pushed back against attempts to block the group.
As the IRGC is at the heart of the Iranian state, proscription would lead to a serious diplomatic rift.
That would likely mean the closure of the UK embassy in Tehran and possibly risk vital intelligence work.
In February, the Metropolitan police announced that they had foiled 15 plots by Iran to either kidnap or kill British or UK-based individuals.
The force was speaking after dissident broadcaster Iran International was forced to evacuate its west London site following a terror threat.
Arabi said: "While new UK sanctions against the regime in Iran are a welcome step, they do not go far enough, particularly in relation Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“The failure to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation puts UK citizens at direct risk, not least members of the Iranian diaspora and Jewish community—who are the main targets of IRGC terrorism.
“The existing sanctions regime on the IRGC is not sufficient and has many loopholes. The IRGC has been exploiting this as evidenced by the significant rise in IRGC operations and IRGC-affiliated activity in the UK, not least at the local level. Terror legislation would give the UK government, tech companies and organisations like the Charity Commission a clear mandate to prohibit any activity directly or indirectly affiliated with the IRGC.”
