ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The UK government on Monday announced plans to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxies under new state threat powers, enabling authorities to prosecute those found of assisting the groups without needing to establish a foreign power connection in every case.

If the legislation is approved by parliament later this week, anyone found supporting or assisting these groups could face 14 years in prison, while conducting acts of sabotage on behalf of the groups could result in life imprisonment.

The legislation is not specific to Iranian groups, and also targets Russian proxies.

“These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work here in Britain,” the government statement cited Prime Minister Keir Starmer as saying.

“Anyone acting on behalf of those who threaten our national security should be in no doubt that there is no place for you in Britain. We will find you and you will face the full force of the law,” Starmer added.

The statement noted that the IRGC and the Iran-linked Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR) have so far claimed responsibility for at least seven attacks in the UK targeting locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities, as well as Persian-language media. The British government claimed that the IRGC has “certainly directed IMCR attacks across Europe.”

The developments come as Iran on Thursday summoned the British ambassador to Tehran to issue a formal note of protest after London alleged that the stabbing of an Iran International journalist in 2024 was orchestrated at the behest of the Iranian state.

The UK has long accused Iran of engaging in espionage and efforts to intimidate and kill dissidents on British shores.

“Their [Iranian and Russian proxies] malign behaviour, and anyone who acts on their behalf, must be held to account,” said Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

The British government statement described the IRGC as “central to the Iranian state’s operations,” noting that: “In just one year, MI5 identified at least 20 potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots against people in the UK.”