Iran is considering closing the British embassy in Tehran amid rising tensions over an alleged plot to assassinate dissidents and Jews living in the UK, according to sources. Iranian officials
reportedly informed diplomats from Oman, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates of the move during a secret meeting on Tuesday. They also stated that new sanctions against Britain would be announced. Shutting down the embassy could significantly impact Western interests in the country, as it could affect important espionage operations carried out by the UK, Israel, and the US.
Security sources confirmed that Israel and the US rely on Britain's embassy to conduct intelligence work since they do not have a presence in Iran. Iran recently announced a wave of sanctions against supposed members of the "UK regime," including Jewish News trustee Alan Jacobs, who was listed alongside Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Matt Jukes and an array of military figures. The Iranian government identified Jacobs as the chairman of the Jewish Chronicle, a role he has not held since 2020.
The British embassy in Tehran has been a regular flashpoint in recent years. In December 2022, the Basij paramilitary militia defaced its walls with slogans calling it a "terrorist center." Tensions have increased between Iran and the UK after Iran International, a dissident Persian-language station operating from London, suspended its operations following a terror threat.
Tom Tugendhat, the security minister responsible for MI5, revealed that Iran is hiring organized criminals to spy on Britain's Jews in preparation for a potential assassination campaign against prominent members of the community. His comments confirmed a Jewish Chronicle exclusive that the Islamic regime had "mapped" diaspora Jewish figures for a campaign of targeted assassinations. Tugendhat said that Iran was using non-traditional sources, including organized criminal gangs, to carry out these operations.
Catherine Perez-Shakdam, who infiltrated the regime and met Ayatollah Khamenei, said that the plans were designed to ensure that "the diaspora would have a very nasty surprise" in the event of an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities. Speaking about the threat to Iran International, Matt Jukes said that 15 plots to kidnap or kill UK-based individuals considered enemies of the Iranian regime had been foiled since the start of 2022.
In a statement, Jukes said that the advice to relocate the channel was not given lightly, as it appreciated that talking to a media company about moving their operations from a particular location, even though it was due to grave safety concerns, was exceptional. He also acknowledged that the situation that journalists face around the world, and the fact that some journalists face such hostile intentions of foreign states while in the UK, is a challenging reality that the authorities are determined to confront.
After the channel's relocation, Iranian Chargé d'Affaires Mehdi Hosseini Matin was summoned for a dressing down from foreign office officials. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that the UK would always stand up to countries that threaten its fundamental values of freedom of expression and the media. He expressed his outrage at the Iranian regime's continuing threats to the lives of UK-based journalists and summoned its representative to make it clear that such behavior would not be tolerated.
The Iranian government imposed a further eight sanctions on government figures, including three judges who imposed the death penalty against protestors and five Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders. The move came amid increasing pressure from the international community to improve its human rights record. Photo by Government of the United Kingdom, Wikimedia commons.