On Tuesday afternoon, the prime minister announced that a UK warship was being deployed to Cyprus to protect an RAF base.
British prime minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement after the US and Israel Attack Iran at Downing Street on February 28, 2026 in London (Getty Images)Getty Images
But the JLC said that the government should have acted quicker and more decisively.
“The Prime Minister has acknowledged that Iran’s aggression towards Britain and our interests is long-standing. Yet, as our allies in the United States and Israel are confronting this aggression, the UK consistently fails to take meaningful action,” the statement said.
“In the last two years, the regime’s capability and willingness to target Israel directly has become increasingly clear, as large-scale missile and drone attacks have been launched against Israel, many of which have struck or threatened civilian areas. Iran continues to strike not only military targets, but economic infrastructure across the region, with no regard for civilian casualties.
“This is a fast-moving and challenging situation but the government’s approach to responding to a regime which actively targets Jews, Israelis and Iranian dissidents on UK soil is a matter of serious concern,” it went on.
Referring to Iran’s position as “the leading state-sponsor of terrorism”, the JLC said that the regime’s threat was not confined to the Middle East.
“The Intelligence and Security Committee report published last year revealed that since 2022 Iran has attempted at least 15 assassination or kidnapping operations against individuals based in the UK,” it said.
The body also repeated calls for the government to proscribe Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
The government had said it would pass new legislation to allow the proscription of a state actor as a terrorist group.
The JLC spokesperson said: “It has now been nine months since the then Home Secretary promised to create a new power of proscription to cover state threats such as the IRGC. The government must introduce emergency legislation at the earliest opportunity to implement Jonathan Hall KC’s recommendations and finally proscribe the IRGC.
Masked Iranian Basij militants, wearing uniforms, drag coffins with Israel's flag on the ground during a parade in Tehran, Iran, on January 10, 2025. (Getty Images)Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
“This is not a moment for complacency. We expect the government to act to defend Britain’s national security, and the safety of those targeted by this regime,” they went on.
The JLC’s intervention comes after the foreign secretary was pressed on IRGC proscription by the opposition.
Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, told the Commons on Tuesday: “The Government’s indecision on how to deal with Iran has left the UK weaker and undermined our own security.”
She said that proscribing the Iranian militia would “strengthen” Britain’s position.
Meanwhile Reform’s Robert Jenrick accused Yvette Cooper of “standing in the way” of proscribing the IRGC.
But the foreign secretary rejected calls to fast track the new legislation and proscribe the IRGC “immediately”.
Cooper told the Commons that the government was working to strengthen “action on our streets and internationally” to protect Britons from the Iranian threat.
