Bahrain’s ambassador to the UK has called for greater attention to be paid to charities in Britain backing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Gulf kingdom’s representative, Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohamed Al Khalifa, was speaking at a panel event at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool on Monday morning.
He said his country welcomed Britain’s designation of the IRGC as a state threat by Britain earlier this year.
Khalifa went on to urge the need for a greater understanding of the threat posed by the IRGC across the Middle East.
“We call on all parties to understand what's happening in the region in terms of the contribution of the IRGC and its proxies”, before calling for “certain financial institutions,” which he did not name, accused of supporting the IRGC to be banned.
He added that the IRGC functions “not just as an army … but also as a commercial entity as well”.
The ambassador said that economic sanctions would have a wider impact on the IRGC’s activities and funding.
Despite alcohol being banned in Iran and the IRGC being embedded in the regime, it has been reported to be involved in both the smuggling and illicit sale of alcohol products, a phenomenon specifically mentioned by the ambassador.
He told the event, organised by the Labour Foreign Policy Group: “They are the largest distributor of alcohol for some sort of reason. I think that that sort of market alone is [worth] almost 700 million in Iran. So, they produce, and they control that sort of segment of the market, and they make a lot of money”.
The ambassador also said attention needed to be paid to the activities of charities in the UK, which might be supporting the IRGC.
Khalifa said that, as in other parts of the world, IRGC-backed proxies had operated in London.
Earlier this year, some attacks on the Jewish community in London were claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, which is believed to have links to the IRGC.
“Iran has always worked with proxies. There are proxies here in the United Kingdom. We've seen them operate in the past, and I think concentrating on charities in this country, charities in the United Kingdom … charities that operate here would be also very important.”
At the event, which contained a panel consisting of Stephen Doughty, the Middle East Minister, Labour MP Alex Ballinger and ambassadors from Qatar and the UAE.
Doughty condemned Iranian attacks on Gulf States, telling the panel: “We've been clear as the United Kingdom that we stand with our allies and partners when we've seen the Iranian attacks on cities across the region, on economic interests, on people and that's completely unacceptable”.
To get more Politics news, click here to sign up for our free politics newsletter.