UK bans Iran Revolutionary Guards, blames IRGC-backed group for attacks on Jews

The UK has listed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, in a major escalation of diplomatic tensions with Tehran, as it also outlawed a proxy group behind a series of arson attacks on Jewish sites in Britain.The Home Office announced the ban on support for the IRGC, a central branch of the Iranian military, on Monday after years of political division over the issue. The move is equivalent to proscription, though not legally identical."The home secretary has concluded that there is sufficient basis to reasonably believe that each of these bodies is engaged in foreign power threat activity," the Home Office said in a statement.The government also outlawed the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR), which has been blamed for a series of attacks on Jewish targets in the UK.