At his annual speech, the Head of the British Counterintelligence Office, Sir Ken McCallum, has said that in the last decade the threat from foreign adversaries has quadrupled, with Russia and Iran playing the number one role on the list in terms of the scale of their activities. An announcement that comes in light of the recent discovery of the foiled plot to attack the RAF Fairford, a British base that for the last couple of decades has been used as a forward operating base for the American B-1 Bombers. The attack, which, by the words of the British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, was “almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.”
A situation that presents a major development and escalation in Iran’s hybrid warfare since March of this year. When it was reported that the IRGC has used its agent networks in Western countries to hire biker gangs and criminal elements to hunt down Iranian opposition in the Exile. Additionally, the report has indicated that the Iranian regime and its hired proxies may have been involved in a number of the targeted attacks against Jewish communities in Europe as part of the wider influence operation to destabilise Europe.
Iran’s ambassador summoned; denies the allegations
Following this development, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has summoned the Iranian ambassador in the UK and informed him that any attempts to undermine UK security by foreign actors through state-backed malign activity are unacceptable. In response, the Iranian ambassador informed the secretary that Tehran declines any allegations regarding its role in the Fairford hybrid incident and was willing to cooperate with British authorities.
