Telegraph report identifies people suspected of links to the Iranian government while attempting to enter Britain

🔸The Telegraph newspaper, in a detailed report, has mentioned people suspected of having links to the intelligence institutions of the Islamic Republic who were identified and stopped by officials of this country when they attempted to enter Britain by small boats through the English Channel.

🔸In the report, published on Friday, the second of Mordad, the newspaper wrote, citing its sources, that British officials identified the suspected individuals using drones and surveillance systems equipped with artificial intelligence. The number and identity of these people were not announced.

🔸The Telegraph also, citing several Iranian officials and two human smugglers who did not reveal their identities, wrote that some human trafficking routes between the Middle East and Europe are under the influence of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and that a network linked to the “IRGC Quds Force Unit 700” plays a role in transferring people to Britain. The newspaper did not provide independent evidence to prove this claim.

🔸This is while, according to The Telegraph, the number of people linked to the IRGC who enter Britain via legal flights is far greater than the cases of entry by migrant boats, and the Iranian government’s use of proxy forces and local criminals is also regarded as a more serious security threat.

🔸The UK Home Office has not specifically confirmed the claims raised in the report, but said that people who enter the country by small boats are subject to security checks and those identified as a threat will be detained immediately.

🔸In another section of its report, The Telegraph quoted an Iranian official without naming him, claiming that Iranian agents, if they wish, can exert influence over some trafficking routes, and alleging that people, as he put it, “revolutionary” are currently in London. He also claimed that these networks are “more important and more useful than missiles” for the Islamic Republic, and that Tehran does not necessarily need to launch a missile attack in order to create insecurity in London.

🔸Iranian officials have not yet responded to this report.

🔸Last week, the UK government, after the IRGC warned Britain that it should not allow American bombers to use its bases, announced that Britain’s armed forces are ready to protect the country against any attack.