British media reported on Wednesday that Iranian nationals arrested in the United Kingdom during the weekend provided an attack on the Israeli Embassy in London. According to the Telegraph, the raids which led to their arrests took place a few hours before the alleged plot was carried out.
The dramatic raids took place during the weekend, leading to the arrest of eight terrorist suspects, including seven Iranian nationals. In recent days, the British media have reported growing speculation that five of the suspects – accumulated to plot a terrorist attack – had also targeted a site linked to the Jewish community, perhaps a synagogue.
Documentation of the arrest of one of the suspects in the “Iranian terrorist cell”, in Rochdale
(Video: X))
The Daily Telegraph reported that the raid during which five of the suspects had been apprehended on Saturday a few hours before the planned attack takes place. The Daily Mail also cited sources describing the plot as a “major attack” which could have put lives at immediate risk. These sources added that the plot was not linked to the events marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, which led Thursday but began earlier this week with a military parade to follow by King Charles.
The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, responded Wednesday evening to the arrests, writing on the social media platform X: “We are disrupted to learn that Iranian citizens were detained by the British security services. If credible allegations of reprehensible acts are proven, Iran is ready to ensure them in surveys.
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Outside the house of a terrorist suspect arrested in Rochdale, in the United Kingdom, May 4
British authorities announced two separate raids on Saturday. In one, five suspects were arrested – including the Iranians – who would have planned an attack on what has been described as a “specific location”, although no other detail has been given. A few hours earlier, three other Iranians were arrested during a separate operation. The authorities stressed that this second group was not linked to the alleged plot of the embassy and that a separate investigation is underway. According to the Daily Mail, the second group may have been part of another Iranian cell involved in espionage. They would have been arrested to fear that the news of the primary raid could make them flee.
The five men suspected of planning the attack, aged 24 to 46, were arrested in separate places: Swindon, western London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester. Four remain in detention and one has been released on bail.
In Rochdale, a dramatic video captured images of around thirty heavily armed officers – including SAS commandos – said a house around 7 p.m., local residents told the media that masked police had escorted a shirtless man in the forties of the house threatening a weapon and had ordered him to lie to the ground. In Swindon, another suspect was held in broad daylight on a city in the city by masked security agents.
British interior secretary Yvette Cooper said that the two operations, which led to eight arrests, were among the greatest efforts to fight terrorism that the United Kingdom has seen in recent years. Asked about the potential links between the suspects and the Iranian regime, she did not respond directly, but referred to possible links.
“These important operations and the current survey are of immense importance, and of course, Iranian nationals are involved in both cases. We support the police and security services in their requests for information and security assessments,” said Cooper.
Iran has been carrying out terrorist attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets for years, as well as Iranian dissidents abroad. Warnings about its activities in the United Kingdom have increased in recent years. Last year, the UK National Intelligence Agency MI5 revealed that since the beginning of 2022, it had disrupted at least 20 plots linked to Iran.
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Outside the house of a terrorist suspect arrested in Rochdale, in the United Kingdom, May 4
(Photo: Ryan Jenkinson / Getty Images))
One of these operations allocated to Iran involved the stab wounds of the exiled Iranian journalist, Pow Zeraati, in March of last year. Zeraati, presenter of the Persian network based in London, Iran International, who is affiliated with the opponents of the Iranian regime, was attacked outside his house in the British capital. Two Romanian nationals were arrested in their country of origin in December as part of the incident and now undergo an extradition procedure in the United Kingdom.
The exhibition of the new conspiracy has renewed calls in Great Britain to officially designate the body of the Iranian Islamic Revolution of the Islamic Revolution as a terrorist organization. The Labor Party in power undertook to do so during his opposition, but has not yet followed. The Telegraph reported that some in the United Kingdom’s foreigners office fear that such a decision can close a vital backchannel with Tehran, which is also used by the United States.
Nigel Farage, chief of the far -right reform party, said that the IRGC should have been on the blacklist “years ago”. “I have friends in the Middle East who are amazed, we didn’t do it,” he said. The Luke Akehurst labor legislator has also urged designation, saying that recent raids highlight “the urgency” of such a step.
