Iran puts the Royal Navy and the RAF on its list of terrorist organisations and calls MI6 a “hostile group”

Tehran has announced new measures against Britain. On Sunday, November 1, Iran’s foreign ministry added the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (RAF) to the country’s lists of terrorist organisations, and designated Britain’s foreign intelligence service, MI6, a “hostile group”. According to the announcement, the measures took effect the same day.

Two laws, two designations

The Iranian ministry’s announcement, as reported by Kurdistan24, presents the decisions as countermeasures against British intelligence services and military institutions and bases them on a decision of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. For MI6 it applies Note 2 of Article 1 of the law on intensifying penalties for espionage and cooperation with Israel and hostile countries against Iran’s national security and interests. The announcement says all provisions and measures of the law will apply to the British service.

For the Navy and the Air Force, Tehran relied on another law, titled “Response to the US declaration designating the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation”.

The reasons Tehran cites

The Iranian ministry ties the decision to what the British government has done over the past year. It accuses London of taking part in the US and Israeli war against Iran by offering military bases, facilities and logistical support. It also cites Britain’s decision to bring the Revolutionary Guards under the State Threats Act 2026, which the news agency WANA places on July 13. On legality, the ministry argues that the Iranian measures are consistent with international law and the principle of reciprocity, while British practices run counter to the UN Charter, in particular the principles of respect for national sovereignty and the ban on unlawful interference. Full responsibility for the consequences, it concludes, lies with London, and the Iranian government is determined to take every necessary measure to protect national security and the country’s highest interests.

The British side

Why London moved against the Revolutionary Guards was explained by the British Home Office in an oral statement on national security to the House of Commons on October 12. It said members of the Guards were behind the Islamic Movement of the Companions of Justice (IMCR), which claimed responsibility for arson attacks in north London, and almost certainly directed the group’s attacks across Europe. It added that the government passed the National Security (State Threats) legislation by emergency procedure in the summer and, using the new powers, listed both the IMCR and the Revolutionary Guards.

In October the British MI5 warned that Iran is targeting military bases in Britain.