Iran has designated the UK Royal Navy and Royal Air Force “terrorist organisations” and labelled intelligence agency MI6 a “hostile group”, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
The Iranian foreign ministry said the measures were retaliation for Britain’s part in what it described as the “US-Israeli war of aggression” against the Islamic Republic.
It also cited the government’s decision in July, following years of pressure, to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a threat to national security, banning support for it.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced at the time that
support for the IRGC, from expressing a positive opinion to assisting it, would become an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
MI6 has been listed under an Iranian espionage law that bans cooperation with “the Zionist regime,” meaning Israel, and other “hostile countries.” The Navy and RAF were designated under legislation passed to counter the US designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.
The ministry claimed the steps were taken “within the framework of the principle of reciprocity” and added that the British government would “bear responsibility for the consequences of these measures”.
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