125 cross-party British parliamentarians have today written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror organisation – including over 90 Conservatives. The large expression of parliamentary support for proscription comes from all major political parties, both Houses of Parliament, and includes more than a dozen former Cabinet members.
The letter, sent by the All-Party Britain-Israel Parliamentary Group, expresses support for Vahid Beheshti, a British-Iranian who has been on hunger strike outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for 56 days as he calls for the IRGC to be banned. A group of cross-party parliamentarians have this afternoon visited Mr Beheshti to present him with the letter and express solidarity.
The parliamentarians assert that Mr Beheshti has “shown remarkable dignity and strength throughout his protest and has widespread support from parliamentarians who share his sense of urgency in the need to proscribe the IRGC as a terror organisation”.
Responding to news of the letter, Mr Beheshti said: “The letter is incredible. I really thank you. I am very humble for all of the support that we get. It is not an individual act – it is group work that we all are doing and calling for proscription. This letter shows that it is not just my cause – this is the demand of many millions of people. Anyone who’s heart beats for humanity. This shows that persistence and determination always pays off. I will continue this hunger strike with this great support of British politicians at this very crucial moment”.
The IRGC is condemned for “systematically destabilising the Middle East” and the British parliamentarians warn that the “threat is no longer thousands of miles away because the IRGC is now openly operating on our own shores”.
The letter identifies a “growing list of activities” the IRGC has carried out in the UK which “will be of grave concern to many across our country”. In recent weeks, it has been revealed by the UK’s MI5 security agency and Security Minister Tom Tugendhat that the IRGC has been behind 15 foiled kidnap and assassination plots, collection of intelligence on British-Jewish targets using UK-based criminal gangs, violent intimidation of journalists operating in the UK, and radicalisation at British Islamic centres.
The signatories argue that the Government must follow its earlier decisions to proscribe Hamas and Hezbollah as terror groups by going “after the parent organisation” because it is the “primary financier, supplier, and trainer of these dangerous groups”.
The letter welcomes comments in December 2022 made by Prime Minister Sunak at Conservative Friends of Israel’s Annual Business Lunch that he and his Home Secretary Suella Braverman would “utilise the full range of tools” at their disposal to combat the IRGC.
Earlier this year, British MPs unanimously endorsed a motion calling for proscription following a debate secured by CFI Officer Bob Blackman MP.
Last week, 130 Democrat and Republican members of the U.S. Congress wrote to the European Union expressing their “disappointment” at its “hesitation” to proscribe the IRGC.
Britain-Israel APPG - IRGC Letter to PM Sunak
