A mouthpiece for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has called for jihad on the streets of London and other major capital cities in response to the war, GB News has learned.
The threat to Britain was issued days before Keir Starmer's about-turn on granting limited approval for America to use the Chagos Islands’ Diego Garcia base as a launching pad for “defensive-only” strikes against Iranian missile and drone launch installations.
The Prime Minister's belated decision has sparked backlash on both sides of the Atlantic, with Donald Trump branding it "very disappointing".
He's also facing mounting pressure to proscribe the IRGC as a terror group following the state-sanctioned killings of protestors in January and Iran's recent retaliatory strikes across the region.
This latest terror threat will intensify these calls, with Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp telling GB News: "In my view, we should definitely proscribe, that’s to say ban, the IRGC, which is a band of murderous thugs that essentially control Iran on behalf of the Ayatollahs, but they also export terrorism around the world.
“They’re the ones who support the terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. They have also sponsored repression here on our own soil in the UK and terrorist plots.”
What we know so far
On Saturday, following US-Israeli military strikes which killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, direct threats were issued against Britain using a Telegram channel affiliated with the IRGC (see image below). These included calls for jihad.
This channel regularly shares content in English related to IRGC operations, border surveillance, regional conflicts, and anti-Western sentiment.
The People's Channel was informed of the threat via think tank Facts4EU, which has a longstanding relationship with various intelligence-gathering organisations in the US.
This intel was provided to the think tank by MEMRI, a Washington-based non-profit that monitors extremist comments.
A user named 'Enemy Watch – Official' calls for jihad in an IRGC-affiliated chat in response to the Iran war
|A user named 'Enemy Watch – Official' posted in the IRGC-affiliated chat: “When you are no longer alive yourself, there is no reason to live — it is the time for jihad.”
The user then urged supporters in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, and across Shi'ite communities worldwide to "rise" and "burn the embassies and assets" of perceived enemies.
In a follow-up post, supporters in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Kashmir, Berlin, London, Paris and Toronto were instructed to do the same.
The escalation comes as the war in Iran spreads.
In response to America and Israel dropping thousands of bombs on key military and political targets since Saturday, Iran has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at nine countries.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter