LONDON

The threat of physical attacks on UK soil by Iranian operatives has “significantly” increased since 2022, according to a new report by parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which describes Iran as a “wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat” to the UK.

In a report published on Thursday after two years of investigation, the ISC found that Iran’s intelligence services are “willing and able – often through third party agents – to attempt assassination within the UK, and kidnap from the UK.”

It said there had been at least 15 such murder or abduction attempts targeting British citizens or UK-based individuals between early 2022 and August 2023.

The committee warned that while Iranian operations may be smaller in scale than those of Russia or China, the danger they pose should not be downplayed.

“Whilst Iran's activity appears to be less strategic and on a smaller scale than Russia and China, Iran poses a wide-ranging threat to UK national security, which should not be underestimated: it is persistent and crucially – unpredictable,” the report said.

The committee was scathing about the UK government’s approach to Iran, accusing ministers of reacting to crises rather than formulating a coherent long-term strategy.

“The government's policy on Iran has suffered from a focus on crisis management, driven by concerns over Iran's nuclear program, to the exclusion of other issues,” the report said.

Lord Beamish, the chairman of the ISC, said: “As the Committee was told, Iran is there across the full spectrum of all the kinds of threats we have to be concerned with. This Report considers each element of that threat – including assassination and kidnap, the nuclear program, espionage, offensive cyber, interference and intimidation."

The committee also questioned the effectiveness of targeted UK sanctions. “The government should consider whether these will in practice deliver behavioral change. Or in fact unhelpfully push Iran towards China,” it said.

The committee concluded its evidence-taking in August 2023, the result of two years of work, but the report authors say their conclusions "remain relevant."

The government previously announced plans to require the Iranian state to formally register all its political influence activities in Britain, citing what it described as a growing pattern of aggressive behavior.