The stabbing death of an Iranian immigrant journalist near his home in Wimbledon, south-west London, has the hallmarks of an attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The perpetrator has not been identified, but the victim, Poulia Zehrati, is a London-based host for an Iranian television news channel and critic of the Tehran regime.
Police said they were remaining open about the motive for the attack on Mr Zelati, who was stabbed in the leg and is stable in hospital.
However, counter-terrorism officials are leading the investigation, and there are indications that this may be politically motivated. The Met said there had been “a number of threats against this group of journalists”. In 2022, two British and Iranian broadcasters were warned that their lives were in danger, and armed police were stationed outside the channels' studios.
More than a dozen plots to kidnap or kill individuals in the UK deemed to be enemies of the Iranian regime have been thwarted.
Why are we putting up with a proxy war of terror on our soil? In January, Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced a series of sanctions against Revolutionary Guards commanders after they were exposed in a television investigation into an assassination plot.
However, the government inexplicably continues to resist calls to ban the Revolutionary Guards, even though the Interior Ministry wanted to include them on the list of banned terrorist groups. What more evidence is needed to show that it poses a threat to the country's security and exiled critics of the Tehran regime?
A video of an anti-Semitic speech given by Revolutionary Guards generals to students in London has been released. One speaker then boasted about his own role in training Hamas before the October 7 attack in Israel.
Rep. Alicia Kearns, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Iran continues to hunt down those brave enough to speak out.
“I remain unconvinced that we and our allies have a clear strategy to protect our own people from them and protect our interests abroad,” she added. She's not alone in her skepticism. The government needs to take a firmer stance toward the Revolutionary Guards.
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