Iranian threat to UK could increase after US strikes says cabinet minister

The threat to the UK from Iran is already at a “significant level” and could increase following the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, a cabinet minister has told Sky News.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said that “not a week goes by” without an Iranian cyberattack on the country’s critical national infrastructure.

Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Mr Reynolds said: “There is Iranian activity on the streets of the UK, which is wholly unacceptable.”

And he said it would be “naive” to think the threat will not escalate as Tehran could seek to retaliate against the US, Israel and their allies.

Early on Sunday, the American military struck three sites as it joined Israel‘s effort to destroy Iran‘s nuclear programme. B-2 bombers dropped 14 bunker-busting GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, each weighing 30,000 lbs. Iran has maintained that its programme is for peaceful purposes only.

President Trump called the strikes “a spectacular military success” and claimed Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated.”

He called on Iran not to retaliate, saying the government “must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier”.

Mr Reynolds said Iran had a choice – “Do they want to continue being an agent of instability in the region and the wider world? Where has that got them? Where has it got the Iranian people?

“There’s a better course of action for Iran to take here, and I think they should consider that.”

Last October, MI5 chief Ken McCallum said authorities had stopped 20 state-backed plots hatched by Iran in the UK since 2022.

And in December, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warned that Iran “is developing its cyber capabilities and is willing to target the UK to fulfil its disruptive and destructive objectives”.

In February 2023, a London-based Iranian news station said it was forced to shut its UK headquarters over alleged threats from Tehran and fears for the safety of its journalists.

Iran International TV said it “reluctantly” closed its west London studios and moved the operation to its offices in Washington, DC.

The broadcaster said the move followed warnings from the Metropolitan Police that there were “serious” and “grave” concerns about “hostile intentions of foreign states”.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have called on Iran’s leaders to enter negotiations and “not to take any further action that could destabilise the region”.

‘PM tells Brits to return home’ 

Sir Keir urged Britons in Israel and the Palestinian territories to make contact with the Foreign Office as it prepares for an evacuation flight early next week.

The Prime Minister said: “I urge all citizens to make contact with the Foreign Office so that we can facilitate whatever support is needed.”

The Israeli government said about 22,000 tourists are seeking to board evacuation flights, but it is unclear how many of those are from the UK.