Sir Keir Starmer has proscribed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
Labour has outlawed the group under the new National Security Act as a threat to national security.
Members could now face sentences up to life imprisonment, with the emergency legislation pending Parliament’s approval.
The legislation will follow a barrage of demands to outlaw the paramilitary group after much of the western world had already done so, including the US, Canada, Australia and the EU, while Britain stalled on the matter.
Now, security minister Dame Angela Eagle said Britain had “identified activity linked to the IRGC involving threats to life and intimidation on UK soil”.
The Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), another Iranian-linked group, will be banned after a series of attacks on British Jewish communities across the UK.
The volunteer corps of Russia’s GRU (which is its foreign military intelligence agency) will also be outlawed under the same legislation due to “sabotage and other activity directed against the UK and Europe”.
As a result, it will be illegal to invite support for, express an opinion or belief that is supportive of these organisations.
The same legislation will also make it illegal to assist the groups in carrying out UK-related activities or engage in conduct likely to materially assist them.
Dame Angela Eagle issued the statement of behalf of the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood
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PA
It will also be probibited to accept or retain a material benefit provided by or on behalf of the groups.
To be designated, the Home Secretary must “reasonably” believe that the group has been involved in foreign power threat activity.
Ms Mahmood must also “consider” that designation is required for the sake of the UK’s safety.
In a written statement, Dame Angela said: “The IRGC is a central component of the Iranian state’s security apparatus, answerable directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader.
Ms Cooper said Iranian and Russian use of proxy groups to carry out state-backed activity was ‘reprehensible’
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HOUSE OF COMMONS“Its role extends far beyond that of a conventional military force. It encompasses intelligence activity, the use of proxy actors, and the projection of influence designed to advance Iranian state objectives.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “As foreign states increasingly seek to back threats on our streets, we are cracking down on those who try to undermine our country and its security.”
She added that Iranian and Russian use of proxy groups to carry out state-backed activity on British soil was “reprehensible”.
“As I set out today, the IMCR publicly claimed responsibility for seven abhorrent attacks at locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities, and Persian-language media in the UK earlier this year,” she said, adding “malign behaviour must be held to account”.
She declared: “My message to Iran and Russia, and anyone who does their bidding, is clear. We will take all measures necessary to protect the British people, at home and abroad.”
The “long overdue” move has even been welcomed by Labour’s critics, with Dr Alan Mendoza, the Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society, lauding the decision.
He said: “The IRGC has both plotted terrorism on our shores and successfully actioned it. It is an integral part of the Iranian web of overseas nefarious activity that has brought violence not simply to the Middle East but far further afield.
“Years of campaigning have been proven correct by today’s move, but the shame remains that it took this long to achieve a result that successive Governments risibly claimed was impossible to achieve even as other allies were able to do so.
“Welcome as today’s progress undoubtedly is, we simply must do better in future when it comes to finding appropriate ways to safeguard our national security.”
Back in March, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch offered a helping hand to Sir Keir to pass legislation to proscribe the IRGC after Golders Green attack, when four Jewish community ambulances were set on fire.
A month on, the Prime Minister vowed to proscribe the group in the next parliament.
Some Middle Eastern countries have also proscribed the organisation already, such as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.