Since the committee took evidence, two Romanians have been charged after an Iranian journalist was stabbed outside his home in London. Separately, three Iranian men have appeared in court charged with plotting violence against journalists under instruction from Iran’s intelligence agencies.
Jeremy Wright, the committee’s deputy chair, told POLITICO that although Iran does not view these as direct attacks on Britain “the U.K. government needs to make it clear to the Iranians, that is exactly how we will regard it.”
“People are entitled to walk safely on British streets regardless of where they come from,” and that attempts to kill and kidnap increases the risk for U.K. citizens to be hurt in the process. “We think it needs to be met with an appropriate response at a government-to-government level,” he added.
Working with the enemy
Iran’s emergence as a top-level threat to Britain has seen it deepen its relationship with the other “big four” of threats to UK security — Russia, China and North Korea.
The ISC’s report noted that a shared concern about the United States has seen Iran become the main partner of Russia in the Middle East, and that it appears that the two country’s intelligence agencies are sharing intelligence which could increase the threat to the U.K..
It added that Iran’s relationship with China is more economic, with China becoming Iran’s biggest trade and economic partner and representing 36 percent of Iran’s exports.