Iran's "growing recklessness" attracts warning from MI5

Iran has allegedly threatened to kidnap or kill at least ten Brits or UK citizens this year, according to MI5, the domestic counter-intelligence and security agency of Britain.

Ken McCallum, the chief of MI5, disclosed the number in his yearly report on threats to the UK.

According to McCallum, MI5 has been collaborating with both domestic and foreign partners to stop what he refers to as "completely unacceptable activity."

He said he was unable to go into further detail about the alleged plots, but added that Iran had occasionally used its own spies and other people to work as their agents, employing a variety of tactics and sometimes acting within Western nations and other times luring people back to Iran.

No one should have any misconceptions about the scope and variety of the challenges we will confront in 2022, McCallum told the audience at Thames House, the security service's London headquarters, according to a BBC report.

He cautioned that threats from other governments that were "not squeamish about the tactics they deploy" represented the biggest changes his service was seeing.

Iran "directly" posed risks to the UK, according to him, through its "aggressive intelligence services." According to him, these included plans to kidnap or possibly kill British or UK residents who were seen as the regime's enemies. Since January alone, "we have seen at least 10 such potential threats," he continued.

He claimed that in recent years, Europe had witnessed the nation's willingness to engage in "reckless" conduct.

The head of MI5 said that Iran was also aiding Russia, particularly by delivering drones that, in his words, were "inflicting misery" in Ukraine.

The BBC said that he also cautioned the UK to "be ready for Russian aggression for years to come."

But he said that due to the widespread expulsion of Russia's spies after its invasion of Ukraine, the country had suffered a strategic setback.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, he said, had "raised national security questions some thought consigned to the history books."

He warned that Moscow would continue to target the UK using a combination of overt threats, such as spies and cyberattacks, as well as more overt methods, such as pressure on energy prices and disinformation. "They'll keep attacking us."

However, the head of MI5 was upbeat about nations' abilities to make it more difficult for Russian spies to conduct their operations.

Since the invasion of Ukraine in February, more than 600 Russian officials have been expelled globally, and more than 400 of them are thought to be spies, according to McCallum. "This has struck the Russian intelligence services the biggest strategic blow in recent European history." China, he said, poses a "large and enduring challenge" and employs "all means at their disposal" to keep tabs on and occasionally frighten individuals who they deem to be adversaries. Recently, a pro-democracy protester in Manchester was attacked near the Chinese consulate. Regarding the pressure being put on those challenging Beijing, the MI5 chief added, "We're seeing further indications of that repression."

He claimed that terrorism still constituted a threat, though it was not as serious now as it was a few years ago. In addition to what he called "the wicked problem of self-initiated lone actor terrorists, fiendishly hard to detect and disrupt," he claimed that MI5 was still observing worldwide terror networks seeking to regroup. The rise in firearm acquisition attempts, especially 3-D printed and homemade ones, is concerning.