According to the head of MI5, Russia and Iran are responsible for a "staggering" increase in lethal plans
Both Russia and Iran frequently enlist criminals, ranging from international drug traffickers to petty criminals, to execute their attacks, he added.
Britain is experiencing a “staggering rise” in assassination attempts on its territory orchestrated by Russia and Iran, with these adversarial nations enlisting criminals to carry out their operations, according to the head of MI5, the U.K.’s domestic intelligence agency.
During a speech on Tuesday, MI5 director Ken McCallum noted that his agency and the police have dealt with 20 plots backed by Tehran since 2022, cautioning that Iran may widen its scope of targets in the U.K. if Israel retaliates following Iran’s missile attacks.
He indicated that the escalating conflicts in the Middle East heighten the risk of increased Iranian aggression within the U.K.
In a rare public address detailing the significant threats posed by both hostile nations and terrorist organizations, McCallum warned that Israel's conflicts with Iran-aligned militant groups—such as Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen—might provoke terror attacks in the U.K.
Although he stated that the Middle East crisis has not led to significant terrorist violence in Britain, the combination of hostile states, individual attackers, and a resurgent Islamic State group contributes to “the most complex and interconnected threat environment we’ve ever seen.”
McCallum revealed that MI5 has seen a 48% increase in state-threat investigations over the past year, primarily involving Iran, Russia, and China.
He referenced the death of Mahsa Amini, who passed away in Iranian police custody in September 2022 after being arrested for allegedly violating the country's compulsory headscarf law, noting that “we’ve seen plot after plot here in the U.K., at an unprecedented pace and scale.”
He reported that MI5 and the police have responded to 20 potentially deadly Iran-backed plots since January 2022, a 33% increase from the previously reported 15 cases at the end of January.
Additionally, McCallum stated that Russia's military intelligence is attempting to employ “arson, sabotage and more” to incite chaos on the streets of Britain and other European nations.
Both Russia and Iran frequently enlist criminals, ranging from international drug traffickers to petty criminals, to execute their attacks, he added.
Currently, the U.K.’s official terror threat level is set at “substantial,” the midpoint of a five-point scale, indicating that an attack is probable. Since 2017, MI5 and the police have disrupted 43 advanced-stage terror plots.
While approximately 75% of terror plots are rooted in Islamic extremist ideologies and about 25% in far-right beliefs, McCallum remarked that these categories “don’t fully reflect the dizzying range of beliefs and ideologies we see,” which are influenced by a mixture of “online hatred, conspiracy theories and disinformation.”
He expressed concern about signs indicating the resurgence of the Islamic State group, despite the fall of its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
McCallum stated that “after a few years of being pinned well back, they’ve resumed efforts to export terrorism.”
Reflecting on his career, he noted, “The first 20 years of my career here were crammed full of terrorist threats.
We now face those alongside state-backed assassination and sabotage plots, against the backdrop of a major European land war.”
