Iran is making preparations to shutter the British embassy in Tehran as a retaliatory move over the revelation that it was plotting to target Jews and Iranian anti-regime activists in the UK with assassination squads, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
At a private London meeting with ambassadors from Gulf nations, Iran also said it would place new sanctions on the UK, according to the report.
On Monday, UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat confirmed testimony from a French Jewish journalist that Iran has been “mapping” Jewish diaspora communities to be attacked by kill squads, stating that the Iranian regime has gathered intelligence on British Jews and targeted them for assassination.
Speaking to parliament about the threat Iran poses to British journalists critical of the regime, he also said: “Between 2020 and 2022, Iran tried to collect intelligence on UK-based Israeli and Jewish individuals… We believe this information was a preparation for future lethal operations.”
He also said: “We know that the Iranian intelligence services work with organized criminal gangs, and I can assure the house and the public that we will go after anyone working with them.”
The secret meeting this week was attended by the ambassadors from the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait and Oman. It took place on Tuesday. A source told the news outlet that at the meeting Iranian officials said that the regime was set to introduce a series of new sanctions in response to the UK acknowledging the existence of the Iranian plot.
The closure of the British embassy in Tehran would be a major setback for Western intelligence interests, as reportedly the embassy is important for spy operations conducted by Britain, the US and other allies who do not have a presence in Iran.
Last week, journalist Catherine Perez-Shakdam told the Chronicle that she was present during a high-level meeting in Tehran in which a plot was discussed that would involve Iranian kill teams positioned in Jewish communities activated in the event of a war between Israel and Iran, so that “the diaspora would have a very nasty surprise.”
Iranian opposition channel Iran International, which is affiliated with the Iranian opposition, was also forced to relocate from London, saying last week that it moved to Washington to Washington “to protect the safety of its journalists” after being targeted by Tehran, the Associated Press reported.
Reached for comment, Iran International referred to a statement saying that “threats had grown to the point that it was felt it was no longer possible to protect the channel’s staff” or the public around its studio in London.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)