A UK parliamentary briefing published on Friday says Iranian operatives are increasingly seeking to carry out kidnappings, physical attacks and assassinations against dissidents and opponents in Britain.
“The greatest threat currently posed by Iran in the UK was the physical threat posed to dissidents and other opponents, a change from previous years when espionage was the primary threat,” the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) said in the published briefing.
It described targeted individuals as “dissidents, journalists, regime opponents, Israelis, Jews, and sectors including government, travel and universities.”
Ties between Tehran and London are at a low ebb after Britain joined Germany and France in triggering the imposition of UN sanctions on Iran.
Iran has long accused its former colonial ruler of meddling in its internal affairs and seeking the downfall of its thoecracy. On Friday a senior official said the United Kingdom was in league with the United Arab Emirates in regional wars.
The UK government in September submitted a statement on steps taken to confront Iranian activities including designation of the Iranian state in its entirety on the enhanced tier of its new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS).
The move meant that anyone working for or directed by the Iranian state to conduct activities in the UK must declare those activities or face up to five years in prison.
'Persistent, unpredictable'
The ISC report also addressed cyber threat from Iran, adding it possess a “significant area of asymmetric strength” in cyber activity.
"While Iran’s cyber capability is less developed than that of China or Russia, it remains a tool for targeting journalists, analysts, and dissidents, and an Iranian cyberattack on UK infrastructure was considered unlikely,” the report said. "the threat level is persistent and unpredictable."
Iran International revealed last month the existence and structure of a secret Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps cyber unit targeting dissidents and foreign governments, citing confidential official documents.
Department 40 of the IRGC counterintelligence unit was known as "Charming Kitten" to security experts. It had surveilled dissidents abroad, examined drone footage of the courtyard of the British embassy in Tehran and gathered information for a thwarted plot to kill Israelis in Istanbul.
The UK briefing recorded a package of government actions so far, saying that 547 individuals and entities linked to Iran had been sanctioned and that the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme had placed Iran on the enhanced tier.
“Use of a wide range of organizations means physical threat can manifest from a much broader pool of suspects, adding a further layer of unpredictability," ISC added.
The briefing concludes that the Iranian Government is “persistent and, crucially, unpredictable."