Iran terror suspect held over plot on British soil 'very well connected to Tehran regime': Police 'warned dissidents of threats days before raids'
Arrested Iranian suspects were ‘hours away’ from ‘major attack’ on UK synagogue
A suspected Iranian terrorist accused of plotting a deadly attack in Britain was last night claimed to be ‘very well-connected’ to the regime in Tehran.
The man, one of five arrested on Saturday during co-ordinated raids, is also connected to prominent businesses in Iran via his family, The Telegraph reported.
The alleged use of Iranian nationals, rather than proxies, to carry out an overseas terror attack suggests a change in tactics by the hostile state.
It may also be indicative of the significance of the purported plot. However, police have refused to say whether the alleged plan to target an unnamed premises was ‘state-sponsored’.
Counterterrorism officers also visited Iranian dissidents just days before the two plots were foiled, warning them of the threat posed by Tehran.
Mohamad Khoshbayan - a former Shia cleric who preached in Iran but has been granted asylum in the UK after supporting Tehran's opposition - was told to improve his home security, mix up his daily routine and highlighted the risk of violence.
Officers arrested the five suspected terrorist in raids in west London, Rochdale, Manchester, Stockport and Swindon.
Undercover police officers swooped on a suspected Iranian terrorist in Swindon after posing as customers in a café and ordering coffees and donuts
Witnesses in Swindon yesterday told of their shock at seeing six officers, who had been posing as customers of a town centre Costa cafe in jeans and hoodies, pounce on one of the suspects – moments after they were seen ordering drinks and doughnuts.
The first four men were arrested on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act, contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, and the fifth was detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.
The arrested were a 29-year-old man in the Swindon area, a 46-year-old man in west London, a 29-year-old man in the Stockport area, a 40-year-old man in the Rochdale area and a 24-year-old man in the Manchester area.
Police were granted warrants of further detention last night, giving them until Saturday to question four of the men ‘on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act’. These suspects are understood to be Iranian.
The fifth, the 24-year-old whose nationality has not been established, who was arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, has been released on bail.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said the investigation was ‘highly complex’.
He added that one was a terrorist plot to attack a specific premises (a synagogue), while the other was a national security issue.
Police have also been given more time to quiz three other Iranians held in London on suspicion of carrying out spy-related activity but are not treating the two cases as linked.
Members of the SAS supported counter terrorism police during the operation to storm the alleged terror cell in Rochdale over the weekend
It was part of a series of busts across England. Pictured are a group of Counter Terrorism Specialist Firearms Officers outside a home in Rochdale during another raid on Saturday
These three suspects, aged 39, 44 and 55, worked on behalf of Iran.
They are the first Iranians arrested under the relatively new National Security Act, established to counter hostile states' activities.
As part of the investigation, officers are searching a number of addresses in the Greater Manchester, London and Swindon areas.
Mr Khoshbayan, 42, published a piece last week criticising the Iranian regime, accusing them of antisemitism and insisting that holocaust victims should be respected.
The next day, he got a visit by counterterrorism police. The month before he had a threatening phone call 'because I am supporting the Iranian opposition and calling for solidarity with Jews'.
The grandson of prominent Iranian cleric said: 'I was one of them [the regime], but I managed to escape and I speak out against them. They do not like it.'
It comes as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Sunday that the cases reflect the biggest counter state threat and counter terrorism operations in recent years.
Asked about possible links to the Iranian state, she said: ‘These are major operations and the ongoing investigation is immensely important, and, of course, it involves Iranian nationals in both investigations. But this reflects the complexity of the kinds of challenges to our national security we continue to face.’
Police were yesterday questioning four men 'on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act' after co-ordinated raids on addresses in west London, Rochdale, Swindon, Manchester and Stockport on Saturday evening. Pictured: Police in Rochdale following the counter terrorism raid
Sources said the plot to target a UK premises was a ‘major attack’ that would have led to an imminent threat to life.
Mr Murphy said: 'Our officers and staff are progressing what is a significant and highly complex investigation, and we still have searches and activity under way at multiple addresses across the country.
'We are working incredibly hard, with public safety at the forefront of our ongoing efforts.
'We believe that a specific premises was the target of this suspected plot and Counter Terrorism Policing officers remain in close contact with the affected premises.
'At this time, we will not be providing further information about the suspected target for reasons of operational security and public safety.
'I would like to ask people to support my officers in this and not to speculate or share information that has not been confirmed by Counter Terrorism Policing. We have clear and critical reasons not to provide more detail at this time.
'The investigation is still in its early stages and we are exploring various lines of inquiry to establish any potential motivation as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public linked to this matter.
'As always, I would ask the public to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter-Terrorism Command, said the investigation was ‘highly complex’
MI5 chief Ken McCallum said his operatives have tackled 20 ‘potentially lethal’ plots backed by Tehran since 2022
'We are working closely with local officers in the areas where we made arrests on Saturday and I'd like to thank police colleagues around the country for their ongoing support.'
MI5 chief Ken McCallum disclosed last October that his operatives have tackled 20 ‘potentially lethal’ plots backed by Tehran since 2022 – mostly aimed at dissidents opposing the regime.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14681153/Iran-terror-suspect-connected-Tehran-regime.html
Elite soldiers from the Special Air Service joined counter-terror cops and MI5 in foiling a 'major terror attack' against Britain, experts have said.
Teams raided two suspected Iranian terror cells in a 'highly significant' operation to tackle growing activity by the hostile state in the UK.
Sources said the plot to target a UK premises was a 'major attack' that could have led to an imminent threat to life.
The suspected terror group was looking to hit a synagogue or another target linked to the Jewish community.
Members of the SAS's specialist counter-terror team - dubbed the 'special projects' unit - supported armed officers in the raids.
A former British spymaster added that given the threat posed by the radicals - who were reportedly hours away from staging a massacre - the British military played a supporting role in the busts.
The Ministry of Defence will never comment about special forces operations.
However, one former SAS operator told MailOnline a squad from the fearsome 'Who Dares Wins' regiment were involved in storming a property in Rochdale alongside counter-terror cops.
Soldiers were armed with explosives to blow open doors, with police supporting the operation, the expert said.
Pictures from the scene show men wearing military helmets and body armour, carrying suppressed C8 rifles - which are used by the SAS.
The officers in black uniforms are specialists from counter-terrorism police.
Officers are seen detaining one suspect while another officer covers the window of a building
Other images show a number of officers wearing black and grey tactical kit. These are highly trained Counter Terrorism Specialist Firearms Officers (CTSFOs).
Locals reportedly heard a series of loud bangs and men shouting before suspects were led out the property by counter-terrorism experts.
'There was a massive explosion and flame. It was officers using explosives to blow open the door,' one local said.
Images showing the aftermath of the security operation also reveal a ground-floor window in the home that was raided had been smashed in.
This was done in order to allow officers to toss in explosive flash-bang grenades before storming the alleged terror den.
In a second dramatic raid, plain-clothed officers were seen detaining a man in Swindon town centre. The former SAS veteran said these were counter-terror cops and not members of the special forces.
One eyewitness told the BBC that six undercover police entered a café the suspect was in and ordered coffee and donuts before they followed him out and 'jumped on him'.
Colonel Philip Ingram, who served in British military intelligence, said troopers from the SAS and its sister unit the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) were used in the strike operation, with locations across the UK hit simultaneously.
Given a national level of threat and with hostile state links - there would be SRR troops from a surveillance perspective and they would have brought in special forces operatives as a backup team for counter terror police.
Given the multifaceted nature of the threat counter terror was working with UK special forces.
Counter-terrorism police routinely train alongside members of the special forces, working on elite tactics to storm buildings. They are also kitted out with military-style weaponry.
Iran has a history of targeting those they believe are threatening the regime including by kidnap and assassination.
Their targets have included Iran International, a dissident TV station based in London, which was the subject of surveillance and an attack on a presenter on repeated occasions in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
They have also targeted Jewish and Israeli interests and there was a plot in Germany to attack a Jewish school and synagogue in Essen in 2023.
Often the Iranians use criminal proxies to carry out the attacks, utilising Chechen and Turkish organised crime gangs.
Hours earlier, counter-terrorism police had disrupted an alleged Iranian spy cell in London in a separate operation, arresting three men suspected of carrying out espionage activity for Iran. It was feared that news of police thwarting a suspected Iranian terror cell could spook others suspected of working for the enemy state in the UK.
The suspected plot was hours away from taking place, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Sir Ken McCallum, head of MI5, recently warned that Iran was plotting attacks at 'an unprecedented pace and scale', and said there was a risk that Iranian state aggression could 'broaden' due to conflict in the Middle East.
The dual counter-terrorism operations will send a powerful message to Iran, which is said to have backed 20 plots posing a potentially lethal threat to journalists and dissidents living in Britain since January 2022.
In the past year, MI5 investigations into hostile-state threats have risen by almost 50 per cent following a surge in assassination, kidnap, arson and sabotage plots.
In October, Sir Ken warned: 'We've seen plot after plot here.' Iran uses criminal proxies, from international drug traffickers to 'low-level crooks', to carry out its 'dirty work' in the UK, he added.
Warning those who collaborate with hostile states, the spymaster said: 'If you take money from Iran, Russia or any other state to carry out illegal acts in the UK you will bring the full weight of the national security apparatus down on you. It's a choice you'll regret.'
The earlier arrests in north-west and west London of three alleged spies aged 39, 44, and 55 was the first time Iranian suspects have been held in the UK under a new espionage law, the National Security Act, designed to target those working secretly in the UK for hostile states.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14678925/sas-swoop-iran-terror-cell-major-attack-britain.html
Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) force attend a rally marking the annual Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day in Tehran
The IRGC is linked to scores of attempted terror attacks in the UK. PIctured are members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) marching
