Legislation that would allow the UK home secretary to designate state-linked organizations, such as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as threats to national security is expected to become law as early as next month.
The National Security (State Threats) Bill, introduced to Parliament on Tuesday, empowers Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to target groups involved in "foreign power threat activity," including assassination attempts, surveillance, and sabotage.
The bill also creates three new criminal offenses: supporting a designated state threat organization, assisting such a group, and accepting material benefit from one.
This legislative push follows a recommendation from the government's Independent Reviewer of State Threats Legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, who found it difficult to classify state-linked groups like the IRGC as terrorist organizations under existing laws.
Recent cases have highlighted the need for updated legislation. In the past year, men were convicted of spying on Hong Kong dissidents in the UK for China, carrying out an arson attack on a Ukrainian warehouse for Russia's Wagner Group, and stabbing an opposition journalist in Wimbledon on behalf of Iran. In the latter two instances, the perpetrators were petty criminals hired for money.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated, "Where foreign states are found to be engaging in activity that threatens lives or undermines our democratic institutions, we must ensure that such actions have consequences. We will not tolerate hostile actors paying petty criminals to do their dirty work."
Mahmood added, "Foreign states are becoming ever more aggressive – attacking our communities, our way of life, and our institutions – and hiding their tracks behind proxies. We must adapt to keep pace."
The bill is seen in Whitehall as a crucial upgrade to the National Security Act, passed just three years ago. Officials report unprecedented levels of threat from individuals and groups acting on behalf of foreign states.
MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum revealed the security service had "tracked more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots" in a single year.
The prime minister and home secretary fast-tracked the legislation following recent attacks on Jewish targets, several of which were claimed by a new group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin.
The IRGC, established after the 1979 Iranian revolution to defend the Islamic system, has evolved into a powerful state arm with reach beyond Iran's borders.
An impact assessment accompanying the bill anticipates that 10 or fewer organizations will be designated as state threats in the first year after the legislation passes.