Britain is facing a heightened threat of Iranian retaliation following US airstrikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities, a senior Cabinet minister has warned.
On Saturday night, US President Donald Trump authorised the B-2 bomber strikes on Iran’s three main nuclear sites, calling it a very successful attack. In response, Iran’s foreign minister warned of everlasting consequences, prompting countries across the world to brace for possible reprisals.
Speaking on Sunday, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Iran’s hostile activities in the UK were already at a significant level, including cyberattacks and covert surveillance, and that the threat could now increase.
“I think it would be naive to say that wouldn’t potentially increase, but again, there’s a choice here for Iran: Do they want to continue being an agent of instability in the region and the wider world? There is a better course of action for them to take.”
Iran has long been accused of using intelligence proxies and criminal networks to target dissidents and foreign interests in the UK. In May, counter-terrorism police uncovered an alleged Iranian-linked plot to attack the Israeli embassy in central London, which officials say was intended to derail nuclear peace talks between Tehran and Washington.
According to sources, the plot was orchestrated by a hardline faction within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). MI5 and the police foiled the attack in what Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described as one of the biggest counter-state threats in recent years. Four Iranian nationals were arrested in the operation but later released without charge, with investigations ongoing.
That same month, three men named Mostafa Sepahvand, Farhad Javadi Manesh, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, all based in London, were charged with spying on UK-based journalists from Iran International, a London-based broadcaster critical of the Iranian regime. Prosecutors say the men were acting to assist Iranian intelligence in identifying individuals to be targeted for serious violence.
The regime’s hostility towards the station has been well documented. Since last year, UK intelligence services have reportedly foiled at least 15 plots to kidnap or kill Iran International staff. In one notable case, Iranian-British journalist Pouria Zeraati was stabbed outside his home in London. Though two Romanian men were charged, Zeraati has since left the country, saying he no longer feels safe in Britain.
UK’s Badenoch speaks
The Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, warned that Iran continues to pose a direct threat to the UK. Posting on X (formerly Twitter), she wrote:
“Our security services have stopped multiple Iranian terrorist plots and assassination attempts on UK soil. Its ballistic missiles can reach Europe.
Anti-British sentiment is almost as central to the ayatollahs’ deranged ideology as their obsessive hatred of Israel and the United States.”
Ms. Badenoch added that Britain must stand with any ally seeking to damage Iran’s nuclear programme and eliminate the threat posed by the IRGC, which she called a terror-exporting organisation.
In recent years, UK authorities have uncovered numerous Iran-linked plots involving surveillance, intimidation, and attacks on Iranian dissidents, journalists, and Jewish or Israeli-linked sites. The Iranian regime has often used proxy individuals with no apparent ties to Iran to carry out attacks, complicating efforts by police and intelligence agencies to trace and stop them.
Just last week, anti-regime protesters were attacked outside the Iranian embassy in London, with two men hospitalised. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that seven individuals have been charged with grievous bodily harm.
Despite official denials, the Iranian chargé d’affaires in London has repeatedly rejected any connection between the regime and such acts of violence. However, government ministers and security officials maintain that Tehran’s influence and operational reach inside the UK remains a serious national security concern.
As geopolitical tensions rise following the US airstrikes, British intelligence agencies are now on heightened alert amid fears that Iran may retaliate not only through cyberwarfare but potentially via violent operations on UK soil.
