WorldPosted at: Jul 1 2025 4:02PM


Iran waging 'shadow war' in UK through propaganda, misinformation, terror financing

Tehran/London, July 1 (UNI) Iran is reportedly conducting a ‘shadow war’ inside the UK, in an extensive covert campaign that stretches far beyond sanctions breaches, involving propaganda outlets, financial operations and digital disinformation designed to sow division and undermine public trust, The Telegraph reported on Monday, as per Iran International.

While the UK Treasury is probing nine suspected Iranian sanctions violations this year, the paper noted that “these sanctions violations are of course concerning, but only constitute a small part of Iran’s clandestine political influence and illicit finance operations in Britain.”

The activities have been described as part of a deeper, long-running strategy by Tehran to undermine the UK, in response to its decades of political hostility with London.

The UK has long featured in Iranian political messaging as an adversary, and according to The Telegraph, that narrative now underpins efforts to destabilise British institutions and exploit internal fault lines.

Iran’s state-backed English-language broadcaster Press TV, previously held a broadcast license to operate in the UK. While its licence was revoked in 2012, the publication noted that it continues to publish content online that peddles Iranian state narrative.

Other groups operating in the UK, such as the Islamic Human Rights Commission, have drawn scrutiny for their messaging and Quds Day marches in London. Some past rallies showed have also shown its support for Hezbollah, leading to the group being officially designated as a terrorist organisation in the UK.

There are also looming concerns over Iranian financial institutions such as Melli Bank and Bank Saderat, which still operate offices in London, just steps from the Bank of England.

Both have previously been linked by international bodies to funding terror groups in the Middle East, and their presence continues to raise questions among MPs.

Iran’s reach now extends into the digital sphere. The Times reported that OpenAI had uncovered a disinformation network dubbed Storm-2035, likely linked to Tehran.

Using AI-generated content in English and Spanish, the network targeted social media platforms like X, pushing divisive narratives on austerity, foreign policy and Scottish independence. Many accounts posed as local users, using stock images and following patterns typical of covert influence operations.

Following the Israeli airstrikes on Iran on June 12, several of these accounts abruptly went silent, leading to researchers at Clemson University suggesting that these activities may have been coordinated by Iran’s paramilitary group, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has a strong intelligence network.

Despite mounting evidence, the British publication noted that the UK’s response has fallen significantly short of what was needed, warning that Iran’s operations have been “enabled by years of dereliction from policymakers” and urging stronger, more effective measures to counter foreign influence campaigns.
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