The UK will list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, ministers have announced, in a major escalation of the diplomatic tensions with Tehran. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
The Home Office said on Monday it would ban support for the IRGC, a central branch of the Iranian military, after years of political division over the issue. The move is equivalent to proscription, though not legally identical.
Ministers are also set to outlaw the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR), which has been blamed for a series of attacks on Jewish targets in the UK, and the Russian Federation Volunteer Corps (GRU), an international branch of Russian military intelligence.
The Home Office said in a statement: "Having carefully considered all the evidence, the home secretary has concluded that there is sufficient basis to reasonably believe that each of these bodies is engaged in foreign power threat activity, and that each designation is necessary to protect the safety and interests of the United Kingdom."
The government said it was proscribing the IRGC after a number of threats on UK soil, including a plot to assassinate two Iran International television journalists, as well as cyber-attacks on British targets.
The move overturns the previous decision by the Conservatives not to ban the organisation, and will make it a criminal offence to support it in any way.
It is also likely to lead to a further cooling of relations with the Iranian government amid the conflict between Iran and the US. Officials have previously warned that proscribing the IRGC would be likely to lead to the expulsion of the UK ambassador to Tehran.