Iran Brands Britain’s Navy and Air Force ‘Terrorist’ and Brings MI6 Under Its Death-Penalty Espionage Law

Economic Warfare & Trade Policy › Sanctions

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday designated Britain’s Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as “terrorist organizations” and classified MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence service, as a “hostile group.” The naval and air force labels make the headlines, but the MI6 listing carries the heavier weight inside Iran. It places the British service under a 2025 espionage law that punishes intelligence work for “hostile” groups with death and the confiscation of all assets, a law that rights monitors say has become a fast track to the gallows.

The measures took effect when the statement was published and rest on a resolution of the Supreme National Security Council, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency (state media) !Unverified claim, Tasnim (IRGC-affiliated). The ministry called them reciprocity for Britain’s “anti-Iran actions over the past year”: giving the United States and Israel use of British bases, facilities and logistical support during the war, and bringing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps under the State Threats Act 2026 on July 13. It said the steps complied with international law and that London would bear responsibility for the consequences. Middle East Eye, citing the semi-official Mehr news agency !Unverified claim, Mehr (Iranian state media), and Iran International carried the same account. No public response from the British government had been found at the time of writing. For the wider picture, see the Iran hub.

What the law allows

MI6 was listed under Note 2 of Article 1 of the “Law on Intensifying the Punishment for Espionage and Cooperation with the Zionist Regime and Hostile Countries.” Parliament adopted the law on September 28, 2025, after the June 2025 war. In a full English translation published by Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), Article 1 makes “any intelligence or espionage activity” for hostile governments, regimes and groups punishable “by confiscation of all assets” and “by the death penalty.” It defines intelligence activity as “any collection of information that could endanger the security of the country.” The law itself names only the United States and Israel as hostile and leaves every other listing to the Supreme National Security Council. That is the power the council used on Sunday.

The statute also speeds up the process. Cases go to special Revolutionary Court branches “as a matter of priority and out of turn,” deadlines for notices and objections are capped at ten days, and judges may complete investigations themselves. A separate article sends people to prison for passing “films, images or information” to foreign networks when that is deemed contrary to national security. In June, IHRNGO wrote that the law “effectively fast-tracks the execution of protesters, political opponents and ordinary citizens targeted for routine online activity.”

A record already written in the courts

How far prosecutors take the new listing remains to be seen. The law’s record so far is clear in the court rolls, however. HRANA’s monthly report for October, released Sunday, counted two people executed on espionage charges that month, one of them an Iraqi national, along with at least 22 new death sentences. HRANA said the use of the death penalty for political and security offenses “has intensified following the recent wars.” TBR has tracked the IRGC’s role in the wave of executions.

The cases HRANA has documented show how broad the charges can be. Hassan Golshan-Nejad, a 36-year-old father arrested after the January protests, was told on October 26 that a Mashhad Revolutionary Court had sentenced him to death for “carrying out operational activities in favor of Israel.” Homayoun Shabankareh, a 22-year-old animal rights activist and artist, was sentenced to death in Karaj for moharebeh and espionage after 97 days in solitary confinement, during which he attempted suicide.

The law also stretches non-capital sentences. In the case of Artin Ghazanfari, a Baha’i photojournalist sentenced to 26 years by Judge Abolghasem Salavati, a source close to his family told Iran International that the judge applied the espionage law to impose 20 years for an offense that would otherwise carry 10, and gave him 10 days instead of 20 to challenge the ruling. That account is single-source.

Britons already inside the system

British nationals are already caught in this machinery. Lindsay and Craig Foreman, a couple from East Sussex, are serving 10-year sentences on espionage charges they deny, the BBC reported in October; British officials saw them only after 112 days without consular access. “I don’t want another assurance that a phone call should happen. I want the phone to ring,” said Joe Bennett, Lindsay Foreman’s son. The Telegraph reported on October 28 that the family has called for proceedings against Iran at the International Court of Justice.

The Guards at the center

The dispute began with the Revolutionary Guards. In July, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood used the new State Threats Act to designate the IRGC a threat to national security, making support for it punishable by up to 14 years in prison, the BBC reported. The British government said the IRGC’s Quds Force “almost certainly directed” attacks across Europe by a group calling itself IMCR. According to the BBC, the IRGC is believed to have directed seven attacks on UK sites linked to Jewish and Israeli communities, including an arson attack on Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green in March. “Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores,” Mahmood said at the time.

Sunday’s statement does not address those allegations. It answers them by labeling two branches of the British armed forces under a law Iran passed in response to the US terrorist designation of the IRGC, and by giving the security apparatus a new foreign service whose alleged agents can face execution.

Why it matters

The council that issued Sunday’s resolution is led by Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC commander who is also Tehran’s channel for the current US outreach. Vice President JD Vance sent him a letter this week at President Donald Trump’s direction, the Wall Street Journal reported, as cited by Iran International. On Saturday Rezaei told state television !Unverified claim, Iranian state TV (Iranian state media) that “the tone of the letter has completely changed.” His council has now widened, by decree, the list of foreign bodies whose alleged agents can be sentenced to death. Yesterday’s developments are in the Oct. 31 Iran daily briefing.

For Iranians who speak to foreign journalists, work with Western organizations or hold British passports, the law’s definition of espionage as any information-gathering that “could endanger the security of the country” leaves the line between ordinary contact and a capital charge to the intelligence services and the Revolutionary Courts.

Sources

• Tasnim News Agency (IRGC-affiliated state media; regime’s account), Iran Condemns UK’s Hostile Measures, Designates MI6, Royal Navy, RAF as Terrorist Entities, Nov. 1, 2026
• Middle East Eye (citing Mehr, state media), Iran designates Britain’s Royal Navy, RAF as ‘terrorist’ groups, report says, Nov. 1, 2026
• Iran International (Tier 2), Iran labels UK Royal Navy, RAF terrorist organizations and MI6 a hostile group (also carries Rezaei’s state TV interview), Nov. 1, 2026
• Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), The ‘Law on Intensifying the Punishment for Espionage’: New Tool for Fast-Tracking Executions in Iran (full translation), June 10, 2026
• HRANA, Monthly Report – October 2026: Human Rights Situation in Iran, Nov. 1, 2026
• HRANA, Hassan Golshan-Nejad Sentenced to Death in Connection with January 2026 Protests, Oct. 26, 2026
• HRANA, Homayoun Shabankareh Sentenced to Death, Oct. 19, 2026
• Iran International (Tier 2; single-source on the Ghazanfari sentencing details), Report on Baha’i photojournalist Artin Ghazanfari, Oct. 30, 2026
• BBC News, British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman held in Iran, Oct. 2026
• The Telegraph, Miliband urged to act against Iran over detained Britons, Oct. 28, 2026
• BBC News, UK designates Iran’s IRGC under the State Threats Act, July 13, 2026
• GOV.UK, Support for IRGC outlawed in crackdown on foreign state proxies, July 2026

Note: AP also reported the designation, but its page could not be opened for verification, so it is not cited.