The Telegraph, 15th April 2024
Grow a backbone and ban the IRGC (telegraph.co.uk)
What good did the Foreign Office’s so-called ‘access’ do to deter the drones and missiles fired on Israel this weekend?
I was in Israel two weeks ago when I met a soldier from the Israel Defence Forces. This isn’t necessarily anything to write home about in a country where most adults carry out military service. But this young man struck me in a couple of ways. Firstly, he was a Californian who had been so moved by the October 7 attacks that he chose to fly to Israel and sign up with the army – an act of inspiring heroism if ever there was one. And, secondly, he was in the north of Israel on the border with Lebanon, not in the south or Gaza.
For while the world’s focus has been on Israel’s southern border since October, there are, in fact, more troops deployed in the north facing the significant threat posed by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. It’s largely gone unnoticed that since October 7, thousands of rockets have been fired at Israel by Iran-backed Hezbollah. In response, Israel has carried out attacks on Hezbollah operatives and sites. More than 100,000 Israeli civilians have been displaced and once-thriving towns have been deserted, turned into eerie ghost sites littered with burnt-out shells of buildings hit by debris or rockets.
The story is well known. Iran bankrolls proxy terrorist groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, militias in Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen who target international shipping in the Gulf. The mission is to destroy Israel and dominate the Middle East, with Iran’s nuclear bomb programme gathering pace thanks to the West’s failure to stop flagrant breaches of the international joint agreement.
At the centre of it all is Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism and guardians of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It is a violent islamist-extremist organisation responsible for plotting terrorist attacks, hostage-taking and indoctrination around the world including in the UK.
The IRGC has been responsible for targeting people here, again using proxies and criminal networks. Only last month a British journalist working for a dissident Iranian TV station was stabbed outside his home by men who are thought to have quickly fled the country. It had all the hallmarks of an IRGC-sponsored attack.
As Home Secretary, I worked with our authorities to protect that same TV station when they were forced to leave their premises due to the threat from the IRGC. As a country which values free speech, this was deeply regrettable. Ken McCallum, Director General of MI5 has been open about the threat presented by Iran, outlining attempts to kidnap or even kill UK-linked individuals. This is a threat to our democracy, sovereignty and rule of law.
The IRGC are also masters in sowing division in the UK. It sponsors groups linked to Islamist extremism, promotes hate on our streets, and radicalises people against our country and values. We know who many of these people are, and we know who these groups are: in several mosques, charities and schools.
I have repeatedly – and for a very long time – called for proscription, the effective banning, of the IRGC. It’s high time we cut the head off the snake here in the UK and rendered it much more difficult for these terrorist sponsors to operate on our streets, and in our communities.
We now have 70 MPs and peers from across the political spectrum calling for proscription. Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats support proscription. The US has banned the IRGC.
I’ve heard the argument that the UK would lose access to Tehran by banning the IRGC, but this is weak. What good did this so-called “access” do to stop or mitigate October 7? What good did it do to deter the drones and missiles fired on Israel this weekend? Or the attacks on people in the UK?
Rather, this is Foreign Office-speak for: “We support the status quo and don’t see the need to change things, thank you very much”. Equally delusional is the claim that our sanctions regime is sufficient to deter the IRGC. This is naive when we know the IRGC circumvent sanctions by ensuring that they are not reliant on the British Pound or US Dollar by trading with Russia or China, or transferring assets to trusted proxies in the region, such as in Oman.
This Conservative Government risks being left on the wrong side of history if it continues to stall on this important step. If we have proscribed similar organisations like Hezbollah and Hamas, why are we turning a blind eye to one of the root causes of radicalisation and terrorism in the UK? It’s time we grew a backbone.
This isn’t just about our foreign policy, but our own national security and the safety of British citizens.
