The United Kingdom on Monday blamed an Iran-linked proxy group for a string of antisemitic arson attacks targeting British Jewish sites, prompting the government to ban Tehran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and impose sweeping new powers to crack down on foreign-backed sabotage.

British officials said the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR) publicly claimed responsibility for seven attacks this year targeting Jewish and Israeli-linked locations, as well as a Persian-language media outlet critical of Iran’s government. According to the U.K. government, members of the IRGC’s elite Qods Force were «almost certainly» directing the group’s operations across Europe.

The attacks included fires at synagogues, Jewish charity ambulances and other Jewish community sites in London. No injuries were reported.

DESANTIS ANNOUNCES PLANS TO USE NEW STATE LAW TO TARGET DOZENS OF ALLEGED TERRORIST GROUPS

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the new measures send a clear message to foreign adversaries seeking to sow violence.

«We will never let Britain be a playground for states who want to spread fear, division and violence on our streets,» Starmer said. «Anyone acting on behalf of those who threaten our national security should be in no doubt that there is no place for you in Britain.»

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, hosts a reception with the Jewish community, to discuss efforts to tackle antisemitism, at Downing Street in London, England, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Suzanne Plunkett/Pool Photo via AP)

If Parliament approves the designations later this week, anyone carrying out acts of sabotage — including arson — on behalf of the IRGC, IMCR or Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps could face life imprisonment. Supporting or assisting the groups could carry prison sentences of up to 14 years.

The British government said the new authorities, created under the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026, will make it easier for prosecutors to secure convictions because they will no longer have to prove a direct foreign government connection in every case.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood accused both Tehran and Moscow of relying on criminal proxies to conduct hostile operations inside the United Kingdom.

«Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores,» Mahmood said. «I have rapidly designated three groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars.»

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The government said IMCR emerged online earlier this year and has also claimed responsibility for attacks on synagogues in Belgium and the Netherlands. British intelligence officials say Iran-backed proxy groups have increasingly recruited members of criminal organizations to carry out sabotage, intimidation and physical attacks across Europe, often targeting Jewish communities and Iranian dissidents.

Charred remains of ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organisation, which were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London, Britain, March 23, 2026. (Hannah McKay/Reuters)

According to the U.K., MI5 identified at least 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots against individuals in Britain over the past year. The government has already sanctioned more than 550 Iranian-linked individuals and entities and has pledged £250 million ($334,662,500) over three years to strengthen security for Jewish communities, including increased protection for synagogues, schools and community centers.

Britain also designated Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps, saying the group acts as a proxy for Russian military intelligence by recruiting individuals online to conduct sabotage, arson and other hostile operations.

The crackdown comes just weeks after two Romanian men were sentenced to prison for stabbing a journalist working for a Persian-language television station in London, an attack a British judge said was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state.

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Iran did not immediately comment on Monday’s announcement, according to The Associated Press.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Estados Unidos afirma haber atacado decenas de objetivos en Irán

Irán: «El estrecho de Ormuz es nuestro»

Estados árabes aliados de Estados Unidos informan de otra oleada de ataques

Ataques a Irán

Los ataques se centran en el estatus del estrecho

Los mediadores siguen intentando alcanzar un acuerdo

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Jim Banks will introduce legislation Monday aimed at ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants and birth tourists by defining them as children of «invaders» under federal law after a Supreme Court ruling last month dealt a setback to President Donald Trump’s executive order on the issue.

Trump recently urged Senate Republicans to move faster on his legislative agenda, including ending birthright citizenship, telling them they were «not fighting hard enough,» Banks, R-Ind., recalled in a June 30 interview with Human Events.

Banks told Fox News Digital he plans to introduce the Citizenship Act as soon as the Senate opens for business Monday afternoon – crafting it with a nod to Trump-appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurrence in last month’s Trump v. Barbara case.

Kavanaugh, concurring in the judgment and dissenting in part, said Trump’s order conflicted with federal birthright citizenship law but suggested Congress could amend that statute to create new exceptions.

TRUMP’S ‘HERO’ JUSTICE OFFERS ROADMAP AFTER SUPREME COURT REJECTS BIRTHRIGHT ORDER

The Citizenship Act would declare that children of statutory «invaders» are not entitled to birthright citizenship under the law and codify a 2025 executive order that cites the term.

In its summary, Banks’ bill declares «any person who enters the United States without authorization or for the purpose of engaging in birth tourism is considered an invader …» and amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to exclude children of such «invaders.»

Banks’ key use of «invaders» cites Trump’s executive order declaring illegal immigration across the southern border an «invasion,» while the bill notes the «Barbara» decision leaves that avenue open for Congress to crack down on.

Without touching the constitutional amendment process or attempting to overturn any court ruling, the Citizenship Act will codify Trump’s declaration of «invasion» and amend federal law to revoke birthright citizenship from children of illegal immigrants under exceptions listed in the same case the «Barbara» ruling’s majority used as its precedent.

SEN MORENO PUSHES CONGRESS TO CLARIFY BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP RULES USING HARRY REID’S OWN 1993 LEGISLATION

Kavanaugh found that Trump’s order didn’t violate the Fourteenth Amendment but did conflict with a federal statute on birthright citizenship passed in the spirit of the amendment conservatives said was intended mainly for freed slaves and their children.

Bush-appointed Justice John Roberts relied on the landmark 1898 U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark case to rule against Trump in «Barbara» and «guarantee citizenship to all children born in the United States and subject to its power» – but Banks’ bill would use that same case as precedent to secure an end to birthright citizenship for progeny of illegal immigrants and birth tourists.

Then-Justice Horace Gray – an appointee of Republican President Chester Arthur – ruled in Wong Kim Ark that those exceptions include diplomats’ kids, «enemies within» and those engaged in hostile occupation of U.S. territories who are not «bound to render obedience to the sovereign [U.S. government] whose domains are being invaded.»

‘WEAPONS OF MASS REPRODUCTION’: WATCHDOG UNVEILS ACTION PLAN TO CURB BIRTH TOURISM AFTER SUPREME COURT RULING

By Roberts reaffirming Wong Kim Ark’s precedent with its exceptions, Banks’ bill would essentially use it against itself.

«The Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship decision was an unprecedented assault on American sovereignty, and we must do whatever it takes to save our country,» Banks told Fox News Digital.

«I’m leading the Citizenship Act to reverse the effects of this consequential ruling and ensure the millions of illegal aliens that invaded our country can’t continue to exploit our immigration system.»

In U.S. v. CASA, a similar 2025 case that went against Trump, Obama-appointed Justice Sonia Sotomayor separately confirmed «children born of alien enemies in hostile occupation» do not qualify for birthright citizenship, while not taking the extra step to classify illegal immigrants as such «invaders» mentioned in the original ruling.

Banks also makes a textual Constitutional argument in his bill, writing that Article IV requires the feds to «protect each [state] against invasion» while Congress’ Article I power includes «establish[ing] a uniform rule of naturalization.»

He also cited President James Madison’s 1788 analysis that the Constitution vested Congress—not the states—with authority over naturalization through a uniform national rule.

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Demonstrators rally in support of birthright citizenship outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 1, 2026. President Donald Trump attended in person as the US Supreme Court heard a landmark case weighing the constitutionality of his contentious bid to end birthright citizenship, an extraordinary and possibly unprecedented move for the nation’s highest office. (Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)

The Citizenship Act lays out that some Mexican nationals view migration northward as a means of re-conquering territory the U.S. won during 1840s military hostilities finalized in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 that established Texas and beyond as part of the U.S.

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It also points to Chinese birth tourism being encouraged directly by the CCP – which brings the birthright citizenship debate over what defines an invasion by a hostile government full circle.

Banks’ bill argues those examples demonstrate that birthright citizenship has become intertwined with broader questions of national sovereignty and foreign influence.