The United Kingdom has enacted legislation that allows the government to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) under a new state threats framework [1].

This legal shift marks a significant escalation in how the UK manages hostile foreign influence. By creating a specific mechanism to target state-linked organizations, the government can now criminalize activities that previously fell into legal gray areas, specifically those tied to foreign intelligence and paramilitary operations [2].

The new powers are effective as of July 2026 [1]. The framework is designed to target organizations linked to hostile foreign state activity, providing the government with a broader toolkit to disrupt the operations of groups like the IRGC [1, 2].

Under the legislation, it is now illegal to express support for designated proxies, or to accept money from them [3]. These measures aim to sever the financial and ideological ties between foreign state actors and their operatives within the UK [3].

Legal consequences for violating these new laws are severe. Individuals found guilty of supporting or funding designated state threats could face jail terms of up to 14 years [4].

Yahoo News said the National Security (State Threats) Bill provides the UK with sweeping new powers to target foreign state-linked groups [2]. The legislation focuses on the intersection of foreign state influence and domestic security, ensuring that the UK can react more swiftly to evolving threats from abroad [2].

Government officials said the framework will be used to protect national security by identifying and neutralizing the networks used by hostile states to conduct espionage or interference [1, 2].

“The UK has enacted legislation creating powers that could allow the government to designate the IRGC under a new state threats framework.”

This legislative move transitions the UK's approach to foreign interference from a reactive posture to a proactive legal framework. By specifically targeting the IRGC and its proxies, the UK is signaling a lower tolerance for state-sponsored activity on its soil and creating a legal deterrent through high maximum prison sentences. This aligns the UK more closely with other Western security strategies that treat state-linked paramilitary groups as systemic threats rather than isolated criminal entities.