Cross Party Alliance Calls For IRGC To Be Proscribed As Terrorist Group

A cross-party group of MPs has reiterated calls for the government to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, a year after suggestions such a move could be considered.

In October Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei denied any involvement in the 7 October terrorist attacks on Israel, in which Hamas killed approximately 1,200 people and more than 240 were taken hostage. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, 17,487 Palestinians have since been killed in ongoing retaliatory strikes by Israel.

Iran has historically held close ties with Palestinian territories. According to a 2019 US government analysis, Iran provides Hamas, which controls Gaza, and other Palestinian terrorist groups approximately $100 million every year.

The IRGC was introduced in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution as an opposition to Iran's military, but there has been concern that it has morphed into an economic and political power, and has strong ties with Iran's Supreme leader. In January 2023 the Telegraph reported that Government was deliberating whether to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, with security minister Tom Tugenhadt and then home secretary Suella Braverman reportedly in favour. 

In April 125 MPs – including more than 90 Tories – used an open letter to call for the organisation to be proscribed. Among signatories were Mark Jenkinson and Robert Courts who are now on the government's payroll. 

Pressure has now intensified after Houthi rebels in Yemen – which are also funded by Iran – have attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea since November.  

Former defence secretary Sir Liam Fox, Chair of the UK Abraham Accords Group, told PoliticsHome it was clear to him that the IRGC was a