UK bans IRGC, blames Iran proxy for Jewish site attacks
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- The U.K. government announced on July 13, 2026, that arson and vandalism attacks on Jewish sites in Britain were the work of the Iran-backed Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR), also known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, and is banning both the group and Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
- IMCR has claimed seven attacks in the U.K., including fires at synagogues, Jewish charity ambulances, and a Persian-language media organization critical of Iran's government; no injuries were reported in the blazes.
- Security Minister Angela Eagle said members of the IRGC's Qods Force "almost certainly directed" IMCR attacks across Europe, and the group has also claimed synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.
- Iran-backed proxy groups are behind a growing number of attacks in Europe, mostly targeting the Jewish community and Persian-language media critical of Tehran, typically by recruiting criminal group members to carry out sabotage, law enforcement and intelligence officials say.
- Two Romanian men were sentenced to prison earlier this month for stabbing a journalist from a Persian-language television station; the judge ruled the attack was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state.
- The European Union listed the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization in January 2026 over Tehran's bloody crackdown on protests; Iran had no immediate comment on the U.K. ban.
Why it matters: The U.K. ban on the IRGC — following the EU's January 2026 terrorist designation — marks the second major European designation of Iran's most powerful paramilitary force in six months, directly tying Tehran's Qods Force to arson and stabbing operations on European soil and escalating diplomatic costs for Iran's external operations.
