by Richard Holmes, Telegraph
Tehran boasts it is positioning ‘revolutionary people’ in London through secret network
Iran has been caught sending suspected covert operatives across the English Channel into the UK, The Telegraph can reveal.
Individuals with links to Tehran’s intelligence agencies are understood to have been intercepted by UK authorities while attempting to enter Britain on small boats.
People smugglers working on the Continent told The Telegraph that the Iranian regime facilitated the passage to Britain of migrants living at Calais in exchange for a “favour” for Iran after they settled in England.
Home Office officials have thwarted Iranian-linked individuals arriving in Britain from small boats by using drones and surveillance watchtowers fitted with artificial intelligence to monitor vessels crossing the English Channel.
Smuggling networks run by Iran are responsible for transporting people with links to the Iranian regime across Europe and into Britain, Tehran’s officials told The Telegraph.
They added that some human trafficking routes between the Middle East and the Channel were “owned” by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
It comes after Iran vowed to attack RAF Fairford following Andy Burnham’s decision to renew permission for the US to use the British base to launch air strikes.
Suspected Iranian operatives intercepted in small boats are thought to have links to the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the country’s primary intelligence and domestic security agency responsible for overseas operations.