Andy Burnham ‘in no way off the hook’ on Iran threat despite proscription of Islamic regime’s terror arm, security expert warns

Andy Burnham has been warned he is "in no way off the hook" on tackling the threat posed to Britain by Iran, despite the proscription of the Islamic regime’s terror arm.

Speaking to GB News, counter-extremism specialist at the Henry Jackson Society Emma Schubart said the incoming Prime Minister needed to do more to tackle the issue.

Yesterday, it was announced that Sir Keir Starmer had taken the decision to proscribe Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

Ms Schubart welcomed the move, but cautioned it had come “too late” after the group had already been banned by much of the Western world.

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The IRGC was outlawed under the new National Security Act, pending Parliament's approval, which will see members and supporters facing sentences of life imprisonment.

“The National Security Act is a very open-ended piece of legislation, which is actually a very good thing,” the anti-terror expert explained.

“It means that not only can it apply to the IRGC, it can also apply to other state-connected groups like the Taliban, for example, which has for decades exported terrorism to the West and continues to do so.

“It also means that we can use it potentially to look at groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, which is very involved across the Middle East with the IRGC and also in Africa.

“It's very welcome legislation, if not a bit too late.”

Despite the moves, Ms Schubart insisted that any successor to Sir Keir Starmer would still bear responsibility for tackling Iranian-backed extremism.

“The next Prime Minister, the next Government, is in no way off the hook", she warned.

She explained that Britain must make sure the new restrictions have teeth.

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“This new piece of legislation is all well and good, but if it is not enforced to go after anyone who is supporting or attending meetings of, or otherwise celebrating, the IRGC or the IRGC-backed group... these things need to be enforced.

“So Andy Burnham is in no way off the hook.”

Announcing the ban, security minister Dame Angela Eagle said Britain had “identified activity linked to the IRGC involving threats to life and intimidation on UK soil”.

“The IRGC is a central component of the Iranian state’s security apparatus, answerable directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader.

“Its role extends far beyond that of a conventional military force. It encompasses intelligence activity, the use of proxy actors, and the projection of influence designed to advance Iranian state objectives,” she said.

Alongside the IRGC, the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), another Iranian-linked group, will be banned after a series of attacks on British Jewish communities across the UK.

The volunteer corps of Russia's foreign military intelligence agency, GRU, will also be outlawed under the same legislation due to “sabotage and other activity directed against the UK and Europe”.

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