Iran rejects 'absurd' UK claim of posing national security threat
Iran has refuted British officials' accusations that Tehran poses a national security threat to the UK, saying they blame the Islamic Republic for something they "excel in and master".
Britain said on Tuesday that it would require the Iranian state to register everything it does to exert political influence in the UK, subjecting Tehran to an elevated tier of scrutiny in light of what it said was increasingly aggressive activity.
"It is absurd to blame Iran for something you excel in and master: illegal interference in other nations' internal affairs!" Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei responded in a post on X Thursday.
Baghaei touched on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's remarks in November that he did not believe Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and Britain’s role in the 1953 coup against Iran's democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.
"UK government seems to be doubling down on its irrational hostile mentality regarding Iranians only to deflect from their own culpability, both as 'genocide denier' and as supporter of anti-Iran terrorism (tracing back to 1953 coup against Iran's democratically-elected govnt for which UK's guilt never disappears).
"However, this is no longer the 19th century; any government that makes unfounded accusations and takes hostile actions against the Iranian nation shall be held accountable," he said.
UK government seems to be doubling down on its irrational hostile mentality regarding Iranians only to deflect from their own culpability, both as 'genocide denier' and as supporter of anti-Iran terrorim (tracing back to 1953 coup against Iran's democratically-elected govnt for…
— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) March 6, 2025
Addressing parliament on Wednesday, UK security minister Dan Jarvis announced that he would put Iran's state, its security services and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps into the enhanced tier of an upcoming registration scheme designed to protect against covert foreign influence.
Like in many countries, the political ruthlessness of Victorian expansionism has left Britain with an unhappy legacy of distrust in Iran.
Iranians generally blame Britain for the "Great Famine and Genocide" of 1917–1919 in Iran where approximately 2 million people and by some accounts 8-10 million out of a population of 18–20 million died of starvation and disease.
The famine took place after Iran, despite declaring neutrality during World War I, was occupied by British and Russian forces.
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