These Are the Secrets of the Assassination and Kidnapping Attempts That Iran Is Running in UK

The Guardian revealed, in a report published on February 18, 2023, that the British anti-terrorism police announced that the police and security services had thwarted 15 plots run by Iran to either kidnap or kill British individuals or residents of the United Kingdom because it considers them enemies of the system.

The outcome of the assassination and kidnapping attempts was announced hours after an Iranian station announced the transfer of its operations from the London headquarters to the United States. Following mounting concerns about the safety of its journalists from Tehran.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said that his country “reserves the right to legal pursuit” against the United States for hosting the Persian-language TV news network Iran International.

 

Iran TV closes its headquarters

Following the advice of the Metropolitan Police, Iran International Television Network “reluctantly” shut down its London studios, after Iran-backed threats meant that the channel’s staff and the surrounding public could no longer be protected.

Matt Jukes, the Metropolitan Police’s chief of counter-terrorism operations, said the decision came against the backdrop of growing threats from hostile nations.

“Our overall workload in investigating threats from foreign states has quadrupled over the past two years,” he said, adding that a range of protective security measures had been put in place to mitigate threats to other UK-based targets.

He added: “Officers from counter-terrorism policing alongside local officers and other specialists from the Met continue to work in response to potential threats projected from Iran against a number of UK-based individuals.”

On November 11, 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Iranian deputy ambassador and asked him to clarify allegations of death sentences against two Iranian journalists working from London due to the reports they published about the ongoing protests in Iran.

At the time, the TV channel Iran International took more precautions after British police told it at the beginning of the week that there were credible threats against its journalists.

 

Threats & Murder

In November 2022, armed vehicles were deployed outside the studios of Iran International in Chiswick, west London, after severe and credible threats against two of the channel’s UK-based journalists.

The Metropolitan Police’s chief emphasized that in light of the ongoing investigation following the arrest of a man last weekend in the west London area, and despite the extraordinary security measures, the police continue to have serious concerns about the safety of the people working for this company.

Mahmoud Enayet, the station’s general manager, had announced the transatlantic move earlier, saying: “I cannot believe it has come to this. A foreign state has caused such a significant threat to the British public on British soil that we have to move.”

Enayet described the escalation as a threat to the British people and an “assault” on the values of sovereignty, security, and freedom of expression. He pointed out: “We refuse to be silenced by these cowardly threats. We will continue to broadcast. We are undeterred.”

Jukes also noted that the forced transfer highlights the pressures facing journalism in some parts of the world. He explained that the move from London was not easy. The situation journalists face around the world and the fact that some journalists face such hostile intentions from foreign countries while in the UK is a hard reality, but he stressed that the journalists are determined to face it.

This news may also be a matter of concern to members of the wider Iranian diaspora in the UK. The UK police encouraged anyone who has concerns about their personal safety or the safety of someone else to contact the local police force because the danger is real.

In a report published by Al-Estiklal in November 2022, the political activist Asmaa Lmoudan said: “Many foreign journalists and opponents seek refuge and protection in the UK when their lives are endangered in their home countries. However, the intelligence services, mainly the Iranian ones, do not hesitate to target them even outside the borders of its sovereignty, infringing on the sovereignty of major countries such as the United Kingdom.”

 

‘Pushes You in Front of a Train’

The Sunday Times has found that hundreds of journalists, political activists, and those speaking out against the Iranian regime from Britain have received letters from counter-terror police in recent months warning them not to lure them back to Iran and sentence them to death.

Metropolitan Police contacted British-Iranian journalist Potkin Azarmehr in London in May, giving him a message advising Iranians living in the UK on how to “keep themselves safe.” They urged him to be careful about emails, phone calls, or text messages and beware of requests to participate in activities from strangers.

Azarmehr said counter-terrorism police told him Iran had “changed its modus operandi” and was now likely to employ criminals abroad to carry out attacks rather than send agents from Iran.

He added that there are not necessarily trained agents, but professional killers may get paid to carry out assassinations.

“I was told it could be as simple as standing at a Tube station and somebody pushes you in front of a train. Or it could be a manufactured road rage incident. These could be people paid by the Iranian state,” Azarmehr continued.

Aliasghar Ramezanpour, an Iranian journalist based in the United Kingdom whose life is exposed to danger, was told by the British police that agents of the Iranian regime were following him and that his life was on the line, according to a report by the British newspaper The Times.

Ramezanpour kept his cool. This is not the first time that the life of a London-based journalist has been endangered by his work. Still, it is the first time that such a threat has been reported directly by specialized counter-terrorism officers who deal with national security issues in cooperation with the Fifth Division of Military Intelligence.

The Iranian journalist said: “They [Iranian agents] are saying that if you don’t stop what you are doing, we will come to you; that’s the message.”