The UK Treasury is investigating nine suspected violations of sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program in 2024—infractions that have gained greater sensitivity amid tensions following the recent 12-day war with Israel.
According to The Telegraph, these cases represent only a small part of Iran’s regime’s extensive covert financial and political influence network in Britain—a network fostered by years of inattention from London’s policymakers to Tehran’s “hybrid warfare.”
In June 2009, the Iranian regime’s supreme leader called the UK the “most evil” foreign power, and the slogan “Death to Britain” was chanted during Friday prayers in Tehran—a symbol of the regime’s long-standing hostility toward the UK.
The Telegraph reports that Tehran has targeted British public opinion in an effort to undermine the UK’s support for human rights in Iran and retaliate against sanctions.
Press TV, the regime’s English-language broadcaster—despite having its UK license revoked in 2012 for airing forced confessions—continues to promote the regime’s official narrative online while painting a bleak picture of Britain’s economic hardship.
The appearance of Labour Party figures such as George Galloway, Chris Williamson, and Jeremy Corbyn on this network has been cited as a sign of Tehran’s influence.
From 2013 to 2014, Iranian cyber operatives ran a Facebook page called “Scottish Cartoon,” which promoted Scottish independence and accused then-Prime Minister David Cameron of suppressing Scots.
Support for Scottish separatism intensified ahead of the 2021 parliamentary elections and continued into this year. In early June, coinciding with Israel’s “Operation Dawn of the Lions,” a network of pro-independence accounts—responsible for 250,000 posts—suddenly went dark.
In addition to online operations, aligned NGOs are also active.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission, which organizes the annual Quds Day march, raised the Hezbollah flag until it was banned in 2019 and is now under scrutiny for supporting sabotage activities against Israeli targets.
The survival of these networks has been facilitated by the inflow of Iran’s “dark money” into the UK financial system. In 2016, as part of efforts to advance the nuclear deal, sanctions on Bank Melli and Bank Saderat—accused of financing Kataib Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad—were lifted.
Rising concerns have finally prompted security responses.
In October 2024, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum announced that “top-level” attention had been given to threats from Iran and revealed that 20 potentially lethal plots against British citizens had been thwarted.
In March 2025, Security Minister Dan Jarvis warned that regime operatives who fail to register could face up to five years in prison.
Nevertheless, The Telegraph argues that these scattered measures are not enough to counter Iran’s “shadow war”; London must urgently impose stricter sanctions on Tehran’s financial networks and curtail its malign influence.
