The Iranian regime has been trying to recruit UK-based journalists and academicians to run its spying and influence-peddling operations, a recently published British intelligence assessment revealed.
The 260-page report on Iran, released earlier this week, has been published by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC), a parliamentary body responsible for overseeing Britain’s intelligence community (access the full report at the ISC’s website here).
The Iranian Intelligence Services (IIS), the regime’s foreign spying agency, was working to recruit professors and students from leading universities in the UK. Citing the “[e]xamples of IIS agent profiles,” the report listed “journalists, academics, religious figures and students, including those linked to reputable organisations.”
The IIS is the umbrella spying agency encompassing Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Noting growing defense and security ties between Iran and China, the report disclosed that Iran’s “IIS maintain a relationship with the Chinese Intelligence Services, including with the Chinese Ministry of State Security.”
The Iranian spying agency, described in the intelligence report as “ferociously well-resourced,” has been targeting Britain aggressively. “Iran’s leadership perceives the UK as a significant adversary,” the report added.
The report observed that “the UK is a high priority target due to its role in multilateral negotiations relating to Iran and the presence in the UK of Iranian news outlets critical of the regime.”
The intelligence agencies informed the UK parliamentary committee that the Iranian regime has been carrying out an effective campaign of silencing Iranian dissidents, particularly journalists, based in the country:
Of greater concern are Iran’s attempts to intimidate Iranian dissidents and employees of media organisations – such as Iran International – in the UK and beyond. Some reports suggest these efforts to intimidate the regime’s perceived opponents have had a significant impact on the Iranian diaspora community in the UK (page 5).
The Iranian spying agency was also targeting “current and former foreign government officials, including intelligence officers,” the report warned.
The Iranian spying agency was also targeting British universities and research institutions to get hold of technologies relevant to its rogue nuclear weapons program. “An area where Iran’s strategic intent is clear is its attempts to acquire material and knowledge from UK industry and academia to support the development of its military and other dual-use capabilities, including those relevant to the nuclear programme,” the report said (page 195).
Iran was promoting violent Islamist ideology through regime-funded mosques and religious centers across the UK. The regime was using the London-based mosque “Islamic Centre of England and other cultural and educational centres supported by Iran” in order “to promote violent and extremist ideology,” the report found (page 5).
The regime, particularly through the IRGC, has been arming, training, and supporting leading Shia and Sunni terrorist groups. “Militant and terrorist groups in the Middle East which have a relationship with, and to varying degrees receive support from, Iran include Al-Qaeda, Kata’ib Hizbollah in Iraq, Lebanese Hizbollah and Hamas,” the report warned. “This support may include training, lethal aid, funding and, in some cases, direction via its intelligence agencies, in particular the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) (page 4).”
UK intelligence agencies recommended using tough immigration policies, or as they put it, “Disruptive Immigration Tools,” to prevent Iranian agents from running spying operations in the country:
Immigration tools are a useful means to help ensure the UK is a “hard operating environment” for foreign agents and operatives – i.e. that Iran, and other countries, are deterred from conducting espionage in the UK because it is too difficult to do so (page 199).
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