Iran has summoned British ambassador Hugo Shorter to lodge a formal protest after Britain moved to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with Tehran's director-general for Western European affairs, Alireza Yousefi, condemning the step as a hostile act on Wednesday and criticising recent anti-Iran statements by British security minister Angela Eagle.
The designation, announced Monday, would be the first use of Britain's National Security (State Threats) Act 2026, covering the IRGC alongside the volunteer corps of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency and a group identified as IMCR, also known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya. The Home Office said IRGC Quds Force members very likely orchestrated IMCR's seven attacks on Jewish, Israeli-linked and Iran International sites in Britain.
Britain accuses the IRGC of directing a wave of attacks on Jews across Europe through proxy groups. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the country would never become a playground for states seeking to spread fear and violence on its streets.