January 6, 2023
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UK Preparing to Designate IRGC as a Terrorist Organization
The United Kingdom is preparing to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group, according to media reports this week. The decision, which London will likely announce within weeks, apparently stems in part from Tehran’s efforts to kidnap or kill dissidents on British soil. Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, said in November that Tehran had plotted to kill at least 10 British residents over the past year. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Tehran has deployed assassins as a regular tool of statecraft, regarding assassinations as a key method to ensure the regime’s survival, punish foes, and deter dissent.