--- title: The U.K. Must Do More to Stop Iranian Terrorists description: The U.K. government must do more to stop the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their terrorist actions around the world canonical: https://time.com/6285400/uk-must-do-more-to-stop-the-iranian-terrorists-irgc/ author: Masih Alinejad article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-06-07T14:52:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:52.032Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The U.K. Must Do More to Stop the Iranian Terrorists Who Keep Trying to Kill On British Soil og:description: The U.K. government must do more to stop the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their terrorist actions around the world og:url: https://time.com/6285400/uk-must-do-more-to-stop-the-iranian-terrorists-irgc/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1cd8f180a6a3a9b/698a3da716d88464a8c3bead/irgc-uk-1-web.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: irgc-uk-1-web og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The U.K. Must Do More to Stop the Iranian Terrorists Who Keep Trying to Kill On British Soil twitter:description: The U.K. government must do more to stop the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their terrorist actions around the world twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1cd8f180a6a3a9b/698a3da716d88464a8c3bead/irgc-uk-1-web.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The U.K. Must Do More to Stop the Iranian Terrorists Who Keep Trying to Kill On British Soil > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ce51ecc7-4b00-41be-b8fc-87c5e93f6782&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Women of the Year | Masih Alinejad [Watch (HLS stream): Women of the Year | Masih Alinejad](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EiaJleoL.m3u8) (4:12)  _Published 2023-03-02. Iranian Dissident Masih Alinejad Won't Be Silenced_ by [Masih Alinejad](https://time.com/author/masih-alinejad/) ## Masih Alinejad Jun 7, 2023 2:52 PM UTC  A protester holds a "Rishi Sunak wake up" placard during the demonstration outside Downing Street in London on April 29\. Thousands of protesters marched to Downing Street demanding that the UK Government proscribes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran as a terrorist organisation. A protester holds a "Rishi Sunak wake up" placard during the demonstration outside Downing Street in London on April 29\. Thousands of protesters marched to Downing Street demanding that the UK Government proscribes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran as a terrorist organisation. Vuk Valcic—SOPA Images/Shutterstock by [Masih Alinejad](https://time.com/author/masih-alinejad/) ## Masih Alinejad Jun 7, 2023 2:52 PM UTC As the U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak makes his first visit to the White House on June 8 to renew the “special relationship,” it is crucial that President Biden urges him to take decisive action against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The time to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organization is now. As an advocate for human rights and freedom of speech, I have first-hand experience with the IRGC’s reign of terror. Last month, during my visit to London, I was placed under 24-hour armed guard by the Metropolitan Police due to [credible threats](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/11/iranian-dissident-masih-alinejad-24-hour-police-protection-uk-threats-to-life) on my life. I did not learn the names of the quiet, serious detectives who maintained this protective cordon around me, but I do know the name of the evil force from whom they were assigned to keep me safe: the IRGC. They have wanted to kill me for some time now. They have tried several times. The last thing I expected was to have the Metropolitan Police turning up at my hotel after a television interview with Piers Morgan. The police told me that they had intelligence suggesting that there was a serious threat to my life. They did not leave my side from that point onwards. The fear and uncertainty that come with being a target of the IRGC are indescribable. Their attempts to silence me and others who dare to speak out against the Iranian regime have been relentless. From assassination plots to hired killers showing up at my doorstep, I have faced the horrors unleashed by this terrorist organization firsthand. --- ### More from TIME --- Last July, a hired killer came to my front door in Brooklyn, New York, armed with an AK-47\. He was part of an Eastern European criminal syndicate likely recruited by the IRGC. One year earlier, the FBI foiled a plot to kidnap me organized by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. But my story is not unique. The IRGC’s reach extends far beyond my personal experiences. MI5, the UK’s domestic security agency, [recently revealed](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/18/met-police-mi5-foil-15-iranian-plots-against-british-or-uk-based-enemies) that British security forces have responded to at least 15 credible threats to kill or kidnap individuals targeted by the Iranian regime since the start of 2022\. The magnitude of this threat is staggering, and it demands immediate action. The situation in the U.K. had already become so dire that _Iran International—_a Persian language media outlet which has invited the chagrin of the regime for daring to beam reliable news into Iran via satellite—was [forced to flee](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/18/uk-iranian-tv-channel-moves-us-threats-tehran) the U.K. in February 2023\. The channel’s relocation to Washington was deemed necessary despite the stationing of armed anti-terrorist police outside _Iran International_’s Chiswick office and the provision of round the clock protection to several of its journalists. How is it possible that the U.K.—with one of the most sophisticated security apparatuses in the world—cannot even protect people on its own soil? It is not enough to announce piecemeal sanctions on entities and individuals who have no assets abroad and are unlikely to travel there in the future. The U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly insists that the British government has sanctioned the IRGC in its entirety already. But those very same sanctions are scheduled to be lifted in October under the JCPOA and the power of proscription as a terrorist organization is greater than the weapons of mass destruction-related authorities under which the IRGC is already sanctioned. To make matters worse, the U.K. has not even punished the Islamic Republic after its own citizens were maimed and killed. For instance, in July 2021 after the IRGC’s Aerospace Force [attacked](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-58124489) the Mercer Street commercial vessel killing two European nationals, including one British citizen, not even one sanction was levied on the Islamic Republic. Fast forward to 2022 and after a brutal stabbing attack on author Salman Rushdie, who also holds U.K. citizenship, in New York by a [reported](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/who-is-hadi-matar-nj-man-suspected-in-salman-rushdie-attack/3822984/) IRGC sympathizer, London merely issued a statement but did not publicly act. Soon after, then candidate for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak voiced his [support](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/08/13/rishi-sunak-must-sanction-iran-salman-rushdie-stabbing/) for the IRGC to be designated as a terrorist group, saying the attack should serve as a “wake up call for the West.” The challenge facing Europe is not only about protecting its own citizens but also about standing up for the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights. By designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization, the prime minister can send a powerful message that he will not tolerate state-sponsored terrorism and will defend those who fight for justice and liberty. The painful reality remains that European governments remain paralyzed by inaction. London is taking a leading role in fortifying Ukraine against nuclear-armed Russia. But when it comes to merely sanctioning the IRGC, which does not yet have nuclear weapons, it hesitates. U.S. lawmakers have grown so concerned with this dynamic that they have [written letters](https://www.voanews.com/a/us-lawmakers-urge-eu-to-declare-iran-s-revolutionary-guards-a-terrorist-group/7045145.html) to their counterparts on a bipartisan basis strongly encouraging them to add the IRGC to their terrorism lists just as Washington has already done. President Biden should follow suit. To date, the Biden administration has not made a clear public statement specifically calling on its allies to sanction the IRGC as a terrorist organization. It has only made vague remarks that it is working with its allies and partners to hold the Iranian regime accountable and that it [encourages](https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/01/17/US-encourages-EU-UK-terror-designation-of-IRGC-State-Department) them to consider any applicable sanctions authorities, including an IRGC designation. As a survivor of the IRGC’s campaign of terror, I implore the U.K. government to take concrete action and prioritize the safety and security of its citizens by proscribing the IRGC as a terrorist organization. I also call on President Biden to use this opportunity to remind the U.K. prime minister that if the “special relationship” between our two countries is to mean anything, it is time to call the IRGC what it is: a terrorist organization. Lives depend on it. ## Transcript Biryani and regime kick me out from Iran but they couldn't take Iran out of me through my social media. I am there. Every day we are invisible. If we don't cover ourselves, we don't exist with through my social media people take their visibility back. I'm a journalist activists and an ulcer social media is like my weapon, you know? Because when you turn on the TV or you see it just women in hijab, do you see the Iran that the Iranian regime wants you to say, but go on social media that statue image of Iran. You see, women unveil, you see women, dancing? Singing is he men and women shoulder to shoulder without any censorship. I made mini documentaries about ordinary women through my social media. When they run into him killed innocent protesters, the mothers didn't know what to do. I didn't do anything wrong. I just told them you can give you a camera like this. I talked to them and I told them this is how you can be your own media, then all the mainstream media going to follow your page, your Instagram or social media, just go and check the hashtag my camera is my weapon. You will see. That's how women were challenging morality police in the hand of moral policing the streets with shouting loudly. I'm not going to cover myself with a wide Wednesday's fifteen-year-old girl. 16 year old girl they were shouting that we don't want compulsory a job. We deserve to have lots for freedom to be hurt. That's why I I created another hashtag for the women of the Middle East, which is called. Let us talk read a woman of Iran and Afghanistan. We deserve to be hurt. Now, sitting here, I'm a master criminal in the eyes of Iranian regime because I show my hair. I have too much, boys, and loud. I sing, I dance. I ride a bicycle. I shake hands with men. I go to Stadium. So I'm a master criminal in the eyes of the mullahs in Iran. For women off of white Wednesdays or in prison right now. I feel guilty. I mean, because all the people around me, maybe around me, politicians everyone saying that, don't you feel guilty that these young women are going to prison? Just because you called on women to remove their job. I did I was going to shut down the campaign. What happened immediately, sabol's mother. We also man's mother took videos of themselves. White head scarf and saying. Now we are the voice of our daughters and I was like, Wendy's mother's. Now joining the Young Generation, then why should I stopped the campaign? These are like, Rosa Parks of Iran, you know. These are like women suffragists, and that's why I'm not going to feel guilty lashes. Women should feel guilty, those stupid women in prison should feel guilty. 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