Tehran tried to kill or kidnap ten ‘regime enemies’ living in Britain in the past year, Britain’s intelligence chief said. He warns of a very real threat posed by China and Russia
Iran has plotted to kill or kidnap at least ten British residents whom it considers “enemies of the regime” on British soil this year alone. This is what the head of the British intelligence organization MI5 revealed yesterday. British intelligence chief Ken McCallum said Tehran had long used violence to silence critics. The “aggressive intelligence services” have now crossed the line into a direct threat to Britain he said.
“Most sharply, this included aspirations to kidnap or even kill British people or those seen as enemies of the regime,” he said. “We have seen at least 10 such potential threats since January.” In a speech yesterday from the intelligence agency’s headquarters in London, McCallum detailed the dangers from Russia and China, describing how Britain was competing with “adversaries of enormous scale”.
He warned that Britain would have to deal with Russian aggression “for years to come”, adding that the agency had blocked more than 100 attempts by the Kremlin to infiltrate Britain. “They will continue to attack us,” he said, but emphasized that “President Vladimir Putin is not winning the war in Ukraine.”
Comparing it to a soccer league, he said: “The Chinese authorities are trying to rewrite the rule book, buy the league, recruit our coaching staff to work for them, while Iran will allow people to support only one team and is ready to use violence against those who don’t. Follow the groove.”
“We live with the risk that these groups will lend players to each other, and strengthen their strengths,” he added, emphasizing Iran that provides support to Russia by supplying drones “that cause suffering in Ukraine.”
He spoke of the deportation of more than 400 suspected Russian spies from across Europe this year, which he said dealt the most significant strategic blow against Russia in recent history and surprised Vladimir Putin.
Mr McCallum said a huge number of Russian officials had been expelled from around the world, including more than 600 from Europe, of whom more than 400 were believed to be spies. “It delivered the most significant strategic blow against the Russian intelligence services in recent European history,” he said.