Iran’s exiled prince has called on the UK government to take stronger action against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), warning that it poses a direct threat to British citizens.
“The UK cannot allow the IRGC to threaten British people on British soil,” Prince Reza Pahlavi posted Tuesday on X, calling on Europe to “wake up” and increase pressure on Tehran.
Pahlavi made the remarks after a meeting with former UK home secretary Priti Patel, whom he praised for having recognized the threat “firsthand.”
"The solution is to put maximum pressure on the regime so the Iranian people can end its reign of terror."
His comments came a day after his visit to the House of Commons, where he took part in a cross-party roundtable on Iran.
“I’m fighting so that the people of Iran, too, can have the parliamentary democracy they deserve,” he wrote, thanking MPs for their support.
Pahlavi also posted a message of solidarity with former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, saying they agreed on the need to end the “barbaric Islamic Republic.”
“One day soon I hope to welcome you to Tehran,” he added.
Iran is conducting a “shadow war” inside the United Kingdom that extends beyond sanctions violations and includes propaganda, financial networks, and digital disinformation campaigns aimed at dividing society, The Telegraph reported on Monday.
The article said that while the UK Treasury is investigating nine suspected violations of sanctions in 2024, “these sanctions violations are of course concerning, but only constitute a small part of Iran’s clandestine political influence and illicit finance operations in Britain.” The campaign, it said, reflects a longer-standing effort by Tehran to undermine the United Kingdom in response to decades of hostility between the two governments.
Historical context and anti-UK messaging
Tensions between the two countries go back decades, and The Telegraph noted that Iran has consistently framed the United Kingdom as a hostile power.
According to the report, this messaging forms part of a larger strategy aimed at undermining states perceived as adversaries, particularly those aligned with the United States.
Iran-linked media and advocacy in Britain
Press TV, Iran’s state-backed English-language broadcaster, previously held a broadcast license to operate in the UK. The Telegraph said that although the license was revoked in 2012, the channel continues to publish content online that promotes Iranian state positions.
The report also referenced UK-based organizations, including the Islamic Human Rights Commission, which has faced scrutiny for its messaging and continues to organize Quds Day demonstrations in central London. The Telegraph said some of these events included visible support for Hezbollah before the group was designated a terrorist organization in the UK.
Concerns over Iranian banks in London
Iranian financial institutions with past sanctions histories, including Melli Bank and Bank Saderat, still maintain offices in London, The Telegraph said. It noted that these banks operate near the Bank of England and have been raised as a concern by Members of Parliament.
According to the report, both institutions have previously been linked by international authorities to financial activities involving armed groups in the Middle East.
Online disinformation tied to Iran
Iranian influence efforts have also extended to social media, according to The Times. The paper reported that OpenAI identified a network called Storm-2035, which it said was likely linked to Tehran. The network used Persian-language prompts to generate English and Spanish posts on wedge issues, such as austerity, independence movements, and foreign policy.
OpenAI said the content was posted on X by accounts posing as local users. These accounts often used stock images and followed far more users than they had followers.
Scottish independence messaging monitored
The Telegraph also referenced Iranian involvement in online messaging around Scottish independence, citing researchers who linked the activity to broader attempts to exploit domestic divisions in the UK.
According to The Times and Scottish Daily Express, several pro-independence X accounts with apparent Iranian ties went silent after Israeli strikes on Iranian infrastructure on June 12. The Scottish Daily Express cited research from Clemson University suggesting the network may have been tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Government response limited, Telegraph says
While UK authorities have taken some action, The Telegraph said responses have so far not matched the scale of the challenge. The paper described Iran’s operations as “enabled by years of dereliction from policymakers” and said more sustained coordination would be needed to counter foreign influence campaigns effectively.
Iran’s banking sector continues to face severe service disruptions, with Sepah and Pasargad banks still struggling to fully resume operations after cyberattacks blamed on Israeli-linked groups.
Despite some limited card reactivations, Pasargad’s most banking services remain offline, leaving customers unable to perform routine transactions.
In Tehran, customers report that banks are refusing to process checks, urging clients to wait days for resolution.
During the recent Israeli and US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, a cyber battle erupted targeting critical Iranian infrastructure.
Sepah Bank, Pasargad Bank, and Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, confirmed cyberattacks against their systems.
Internet banking, mobile banking, and ATMs of these banks remain largely nonfunctional.
A physical malware intrusion in Sepah Bank’s systems prevents successful data backup restoration, prolonging the outage, Rouydad 24 website reported Sunday.
The pro-Israel hacker group Predatory Sparrow, known for prior cyberattacks on Iran’s fuel infrastructure, claimed responsibility for disabling Sepah Bank, writing on X that they paralyzed the state bank.
The bank is responsible for processing the payments of military personnel.
Predatory Sparrow also hacked Nobitex. According to the cryptocurrency exchange's CEO Amir Rad, hackers extracted approximately $100 million from the platform.
While no hacker group has claimed responsibility for the cyberattack against Pasargad Bank, Iranian media are portraying it as part of Israel’s campaign against the Islamic Republic.
Tehran’s stock market reopened after a 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel with a sharp collapse, as investor anxiety triggered a sweeping sell-off.
Over 99 percent of listed companies dropped in value, triggering an unprecedented 350 trillion-rial (approximately $416.7 million) sell-off queue.
By the close on Saturday, total sell orders reached 350 trillion rials. The main index fell 62,503 points, or 2.1 percent, to 2,922,101. The equal-weight index lost 15,522 points, ending at 908,163.
The market’s sensitivity to political and security developments deepened investor distrust and anxiety this time. Tehran’s stock market had previously declined amid Tehran’s risky foreign ventures.
In prior crises such as earlier missile strike operations on Israel and after the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi, the Securities and Exchange Organization curtailed daily trading limits to contain losses. Normally, Iran’s daily price fluctuation limit is five percent.
“It was expected the market would start negatively after nine days of closure. Officials tried to control the fallout from Israel’s attack but failed,” economic journalist Arash Hassannia told Iran International.
The market reopened amid crisis signals. Within 90 minutes, over 99 percent of stocks traded in the red. The main index dropped about one percent to 2,957,000 points. The equal-weight index slid nearly 3,800 points, nearing 920,000.
Trade volume in the first 90 minutes exceeded 20 trillion rials ($23.8 million), with nearly 12 trillion rials ($14.3 million) withdrawn by individual investors. Banks and investment firms led trading values with 6.6 trillion rials ($7.85 million) and 2.8 trillion rials ($3.33 million), respectively.
Economy news outlets described the market situation as “a full-scale crisis.” One warned that the military conflict’s end failed to calm the market; instead, uncertainty deepened, with investors fearing new fighting. Analysts see this drop as potentially signaling a longer-term crisis.
Massive sell queues, scarce buyers, broad liquidity outflows, and widespread losses are signs of what analysts call “the start of a psychological and structural crisis.”
Iranian authorities have summoned and interrogated at least 35 Jewish citizens in Tehran and Shiraz over their contact with relatives in Israel, the US-based human rights group HRANA said.
The inquiries, which focused on personal ties with relatives in Israel, mark the most expansive state action against Iranian Jews in decades, HRANA reported.
“Emphasis was placed on avoiding any phone or online communication with abroad,” the rights group cited a source close to the families as saying.
Jews are not the only minority group being targeted. Iranian security forces raided at least 19 homes belonging to members of the Baha’i community during and after the Israel war, human rights groups say.
Analysts say the moves reflect both the state’s effort to project strength and its its reliance on targeting minorities when facing external setbacks.
Rights concerns
Pegah Bani-Hashmi, a senior legal researcher, told Iran International that the accusations of espionage against Jewish and Bahai citizens are “factually baseless and violate Iran’s own constitution.”
“These communities usually stay out of political activism,” she said. “There’s no legal or security justification for what the state is doing.”
Shahin Milani, director of the Human Rights Documentation Center, told Iran International the arrests expose the government’s failure to identify actual threats.
“Baha’is and other citizens don’t have access to classified information. They’re always under surveillance. Accusing them of spying is just an excuse to deflect blame and intimidate the population,” he said.
Iran’s parliament passed a law in 2011 banning travel to Israel. Many Iranian Jews maintain familial and religious ties there, and rights experts say the law has become a tool for suppression.
Community fears grow
A senior figure in Tehran’s Jewish community told HRANA that “we’ve seen limited cases before, but this is unprecedented.” He said the scale of recent summonses has triggered deep concern about the safety of their community.
Authorities have not issued formal charges but told families the actions are intended to gather information to prevent crimes.
Rights lawyers warn that these measures could constitute discrimination based on religion and ethnicity, in breach of Iran’s obligations under international law.
Rani Omrani, an independent journalist, told Iran International that Tehran’s tactics reflect its inability to confront Israel directly.
“Because they can’t reach Israel, they’re punishing innocent Jews at home,” he said.
Tehran would be open to a nuclear deal in which it transfers its stockpile of highly enriched uranium abroad, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said in an interview with Al-Monitor.
The dovish comments were the most expansive official expression of Iran's nuclear stance since the end of a twelve-day war which saw the Islamic Republic's nuclear sites attacked by Israel and the United States.
However, the whereabouts of Iran's near-bomb-grade uranium stockpiles remains unknown.
"We would be prepared to transfer our stockpiles of 60% and 20% enriched uranium to another country and have them transferred out of Iranian territory in return for receiving yellowcake," Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told Al-Monitor in a written interview.
Before the conflict, Iranian officials had loudly rejected the idea of such a transfer.
Around 400 kilograms—more than 900 pounds—of uranium enriched to 60% purity is unaccounted for. A former top UN nuclear official told Iran International that the risk of Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapon remains until the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirms its location.
“One should not relax because this material as such is enough for 10 nuclear weapons if it is enriched further to 90%,” former Deputy Director General of the IAEA Olli Heinonen told Eye for Iran.
Regional consortium
In his interview with Al-Monitor, Iravani added Tehran is open to a regional nuclear consortium broached in US-Iran talks but does not see the plan as a substitute for a domestic nuclear program.
Iran, the envoy said, is willing to “collaborate with all countries in our region that operate nuclear reactors — whether on issues of reactor safety or the supply of reactor fuel,” if such a move is a “complementary initiative” and not a substitute for Iran’s domestic nuclear program.
The United States, according to domestic media reports, proposed to Iran in talks preceding the war the creation of a nuclear consortium potentially including Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the United States.
The arrangement would aim to supply Iran with enriched uranium for civilian use in exchange for partial sanctions relief on Iran’s oil exports, central bank, and the shipping sector.
Address unknown
The location of the proposed consortium was not determined in the talks as Tehran insisted enrichment must occur on its own soil.
Axios and The New York Times reported earlier this week that US negotiator Steve Witkoff has proposed creating a regional consortium to break the deadlock in stalled nuclear talks.
Iran's foreign ministry early this month rejected giving up domestic enrichment, but Iravani appeared to give the consortium idea its biggest official endorsement yet.
“A consortium could very well be one of the forms such cooperation might take,” Al-Monitor quoted Iravani as saying.
Asked if Iran would limit enrichment to the auspices of the consortium operating within Iran, Iravani told the outlet: “In principle, we have no objection to that; however, we should consider it based on the details of any potential proposals we receive.”
Iravani told the outlet that the Iranian parliament's recent move to bar cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency "does not signify Iran’s withdrawal from the NPT," or non-proliferation treaty.
A nuclear deal with the United States, Iravani added, must respect “Iran’s rights as a responsible (NPT) member”.