Iranian spies ‘recruit British teens on social media’

Shadowy activities by Iranian spies in recruiting teenagers and criminals on UK soil are causing concern.

Iranian secret service operatives have been accused of trying to recruit teenagers in the UK using social media.

The country’s spies have reportedly been targeting teens in Britain using apps like messaging platform Telegram by accounts with links to Iran.

The publicly available Telegram channels are promoted on an account believed to be linked to Iran’s intelligence service, with adverts in English and Hebrew.

Payments of £500 are reportedly being offered for them to keep an eye on targets, according to The Times.

Spies have reportedly resorted to recruiting criminals as well, with activities gearing up after the start of the Iran war by the US and Israel.

Criminals in the UK are one of their desired targets, with people recruited into sleeper cells for surveillance and harassment, intelligence sources told iNews.

The recent uptick in spy activity in the UK is seen as a continuation of what Iran’s feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been doing behind the scenes even before the latest conflict like coordinating assassinations and cyber attacks.

Operatives can be sent to the UK, but increasingly, individuals already in Britain are being brought in, according the counter-terrorism official.

They told iNews: ‘Generally, these are individuals recruited over Telegram for specific tasks, but it could also be for longer-term assignments.

‘It’s better to conceptualise ‘sleeper cells’ as individuals in the UK who have some degree of willingness to work with Iran, notably criminals.’

It comes after an arson attack destroyed four ambulances belonging to a Jewish community group in Golders Green on Monday.

The attack, which has not been officially linked to any group at this stage, happened next to the Machzike Hadath Synagogue in the north London neighbourhood.

Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by a group sympathetic to the Iranian regime called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya (HAYI).

The group, which translates to The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Righteous, has also claimed bombing of a spate of Jewish targets in Europe, but it is not an official part of Iran’s clandestine activities in the West.

Detectives are investigating the Golders Green attack as an antisemitic hate crime.

Two men, both British nationals, were arrested on Wednesday following the arson. The men, aged 47 and 45, were released on bail.

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