UK summons Iran envoy after assassination plot against journalists - report

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron summoned Iranian Chargé d'Affaires in London Mahdi Hosseini Matin on Friday after ITV published a report detailing how Iranian spies planned to assassinate two presenters who work for the Iran International news channel, The Telegraph reported on Saturday.

Cameron summoned the Iranian envoy "to make clear that these threats will not be tolerated," according to the report.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Cameron additionally referred to Iran's role in the Israel-Hamas war, saying "Iran is a thoroughly malign influence in the region and in the world – there’s no doubt about that.

"You’ve got the Houthis, you’ve got Hezbollah, you’ve got the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq that have actually been attacking British and American bases, troops. And, of course, Hamas," he said. "So you’ve got all of these proxies, and I think it’s incredibly important that, first of all, Iran receives an incredibly clear message that this escalation will not be tolerated."

Foreign secretary calls for strong deterrent measures against Iran

The foreign secretary added that the UK needs to work with its allies to develop "a really strong set of deterrent measures against Iran."

"The level of danger and insecurity in the world is at an extremely high level compared with previous years and decades, and the Iran threat is a part of that picture," said Cameron.

When asked if there were other measures beyond sanctions that could be deployed now, Cameron responded: "Not for public consumption."

“I think the first thing to do is to get Operation Prosperity Guardian under way, which we’re taking part in, and the second thing to do is [give] a very clear warning to the Houthis and to their Iranian backers that we’re not going to tolerate these continued attacks on shipping.”

On Wednesday, ITV reported that Iranian spies offered a people-smuggler $200,000 to assassinate two presenters for Iran International in an attempt to show critics of the Islamic regime that they "could do harm to them at any time."

The smuggler, who works as a "double agent" for a Western intelligence agency, provided ITV with details about the plot, showing that Unit 840 of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind the assassination attempt.

The IRGC instructed the smuggler to have the two presenters killed in stabbings in their homes. Scotland Yard caught wind of the plan as it was being put together late last year and alerted Iran International, leading the channel to start broadcasting from the US instead of London in November 2022.

At the time, Iran International's parent company, Volant Media, stated that there were “credible threats” made by the IRGC against two journalists working for Iran International in the UK. ITV reported on Thursday that the journalists mentioned in that statement were not the two who were actually being targeted, as the channel was unaware of the actual targets.

IRGC's Unit 840 behind journalist assassination plot

According to ITV, the mastermind behind the plot was Mohammed Reza Ansari, an IRGC commander who was sanctioned by Washington for participating in terrorist plots targeting former US government officials, dual US and Iranian nationals, and Iranian dissidents.

Unit 840 has been marked as the unit responsible for a series of planned attacks against Israeli and Western targets in recent years, including attempts to attack Israelis in Turkey and efforts to place IEDs along the Syrian-Israeli border.

In May 2022, IRGC Quds Force Col. Hassan Sayad Khodayari, deputy commander of Unit 840, was shot dead in his car in front of his home in Tehran. The assassination was blamed on Israel.

In late 2022, The Sunday Times reported that hundreds of journalists and political activists in the UK had received letters from British counterterrorism police warning that they may be targeted by Iran due to their opposition to the Islamic Republic.

Iran's Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib issued threats at the time against both the UK and Iran International. "England will pay for the measures it has taken to try to make Iran insecure," said Khatib, adding that "operatives" of the news channel would be pursued by Iranian intelligence.

Iran's Embassy in London rejected the ITV report on Thursday, calling it "baseless accusations."

"No need to mention that, the unsubstantial claims presented in the above-mentioned report are not only devoid of factual merit but also appear to be rooted in preconceived notions and a Hollywood-style narrative to pursue their malicious scheme and goal against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was in the agenda of some war wingers inside the UK for a while," the embassy said.

"Iran as a responsible and transparent state that is committed to its obligation according to international law and norms to not interfere in internal affairs of any country."