Iran’s Spy Agency Targeting UK Journalists, Academics for Recruitment, Intel Report Warns
The Iranian Intelligence Services (IIS) working to recruit “journalists, academics, religious figures and students, including those linked to reputable organisations,” the UK parliamentary intel committee finds.
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).
Holy Crap: The UK government just revealed that Iranian intelligence has been recruiting British journalists — along with academics, students, and religious figures — to advance the regime's agenda.
The question is: What are their names? pic.twitter.com/u6sDNNYbEd
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) July 11, 2025
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.
Iran is spying on UK academic institutions for nuclear weapons technology
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 ‘promoting violent, extremist ideology’ in the UK
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).”
Tougher immigration policies needed to disrupt Iranian spying operations
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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Comments
I suspect that many UK journalists and academics would willingly support Iran, without much arm-twisting. I don’t think Iran needs to approach anyone with the BBC, since the BBC is already doing all that it can to further Iran’s goals.
It’s not like they’d have to try very hard now is it 😂😂
The Iranian IRGC Regime has more support from all of the above than they do in Iran itself.
They’re late to the party. I’m sure that candidate pool is already pretty well picked over.
I have a vision of a line of Brit journalists, academics, and maybe an official or two outside an Iranian embassy somewhere looking to enlist.
Subotai Bahadur
Why bother. A weak wind would blow UK into Muslimhood,
It’s going to be interesting when those puffs ofmuslim wind face off with the poofs of the Liberal part base.
all roads lead through the khan artist
Why? Are their US counterparts already bought and paid for? Or are they working for Iran for free?
Why? Do you mean why would they want spies in the UK?! Surely that’s obvious. Or did you mean why does the report focus on efforts in the UK rather than in the USA? Um, because it’s a UK government report?
Eitan Fischberger:
No, that is not what the report says. It says they’ve been trying to recruit such people. If it had said they’d succeeded in doing so then the news reports would have led with that. The fact that they didn’t indicates that the report did not say that. So there are no names to disclose.
How typically inefficient of Muslims to flood a country with their people first, and THEN try to recruit them as agents.
Huh? Iran has not flooded any country with anyone. What are you talking about?
Iran is not trying to recruit Moslems; or at least this story isn’t about any such attempt. Did you actually read the story before commenting?
No, the “full report” is nowhere to e found on the page you link. All that I can find is a 12-page summary fo the report. But the “full report”? Nope. Nowhere to be found. Unless you are saying that 12-page summary is the full report:?
https://isc.independent.gov.uk/publications/