BRITAIN MUST OUTLAW IRAN 'TERROR GROUP' IN OUR MIDST

BRITAIN must now declare Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation to protect our nation, Rishi Sunak was warned.

- Michael Knowles

Just hours after UK and US forces bombed Houthi militants in Yemen, ministers were urged to proscribe the Corps to "counter their malign influence" on our doorstep and around the world.

The IRGC has been accused of attempting assassinations on British soil as well as the funding, arming and training of terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah plus supporting the Houthis' Red Sea piracy campaign. Tory MP Alicia of the Kearns, chair Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said: "Whether training and equipping terrorists in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria or Gaza, murdering and brutalising the women and girls of Iran or attempting assassinations on British soil, the IRGC is the foremost global sponsor of terrorism. There is no act too deranged or cause too evil that they will not support.

"The UK Government should have proscribed them as a terrorist organisation years ago. Doing so now will allow us to counter their malign influence more effectively, both on our own streets and around the world." Former Defence Secretary Sir Liam Fox MP said yesterday: "It is time Britain followed the US and proscribed the IRGC who are the main instrument of repression inside Iran, [who] supplied Russia with drones to oppress the Ukrainians and [are] complicit in Iran's attempts to destabilise its neighbours." Security chiefs are on heightened alert that the US-led military strikes in Yemen could increase the threat of Britain being hit by retaliation from Iranian-backed groups or terrorists ranging from lone extremists radicalised by Islamist propaganda to conventional attacks by Middle East militias.