UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis said Tehran had grown ‘increasingly emboldened, asserting itself more aggressively to advance their objectives and undermine ours’ [GETTY]
Tehran on Wednesday denounced allegations that it was engaging in anti-British activities as “baseless” after London said individuals affiliated with the Iranian state must register or face penalties.
Britain on Tuesday announced that anyone working in the UK for Iran, its intelligence services, or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps must register under a new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) tier or risk criminal penalties, including imprisonment.
Iran is the first country to be subjected to the enhanced measure aimed at countering covert foreign influence threatening British national security.
UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis said Tehran had grown “increasingly emboldened, asserting itself more aggressively to advance their objectives and undermine ours”.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei denounced what he called Britain’s “baseless” remarks and called for “an end to unconstructive approaches towards Iran”, a ministry statement said.
Jarvis said British authorities had disrupted alleged Iran-backed plots posing “potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents”.
Baqaei called the accusations “a form of conscious projection by a party that has a long and ill-fated history of very damaging interventions against the Iranian nation”.
Baqaei reiterated Tehran’s “adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law, especially the principles of mutual respect and non-interference in the internal affairs of countries”.
He urged British officials “to abandon their wrong policies against the Iranian nation” and not insist on “confrontational policies” against it
