Legislation to proscribe state-based threats – including Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – has been included in the King’s Speech, making it a formal part of the government’s legislative agenda.
Speaking to both Houses of Parliament, King Charles started his speech by saying: “My government will take urgent action to tackle antisemitism and ensure all communities feel safe”.
He later added: “My government will introduce legislation to tackle the growing threat from foreign state entities and their proxies.”
Known as the Tackling State Threats Bill, it is one of a number of measures in the government’s legislative programme for the year ahead.
In his introduction to the King’s Speech, the prime minister made specific mention of the threats posed by Iran.
Sir Keir Starmer said that he knew “that our enemies seek to exploit division in our communities”.
He continued: “That is why we will take on extremism wherever it appears, including where it is sponsored by foreign powers that are hostile to the UK, such as Iran.”
The Tackling State Threats Bill creates new powers to allow the government to designate organisations – including those like the IRGC with formal links to foreign governments – as terrorist groups.
It effectively brings into legislation the proposals by Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, who said that the existing Terrorism Act 2000 was inadequate for dealing with state-linked organisations.
The bill creates new criminal offences to disrupt these groups, while offences under the 2023 National Security Act will also be applied, making it easier to bring prosecutions against people working for foreign proxy organisations, including through front companies.
The government said that the legislation will make Britain a tougher operating environment for foreign intelligence services and their proxies.
An Iranian-linked proxy group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia – “The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand” – has repeatedly claimed responsibility for attacks on Jewish sites in the UK, though these claims have not all been verified.
The Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) welcomed the measures in the King’s Speech, but added that “these words must be backed up by action”.
Today's King's Speech spoke about the government's commitment to tackle antisemitism, extreme violence and state backed threats. Our statement: pic.twitter.com/zRShgACSCJ
— Jewish Leadership Council (@JLC_uk) May 13, 2026
They went on: “We welcome the inclusion of measures to "tackle the growing threat from foreign state entities and their proxies". Since recommended by Jonathan Hall KC a year ago, we have called on the government to bring forward such legislation with urgency. We now await the detail of this legislation in the hope it will be robust enough to tackle the threat Iran poses to British citizens and residents. Having waited a year already, the government must bring this legislation forward without further delay.”
Adrian Cohen, acting president of the Board of Deputies, hailed the government’s commitment to tackle antisemitism and proscribe the IRGC, but urged them to do so rapidly.
“We also welcome the confirmation that the government will introduce legislation to tackle the growing threat from foreign state entities and their proxies, in line with recommendations made by the Independent Reviewer of State Threats Legislation Jonathan Hall KC. We call on the government to enact these powers without further delay and use them as quickly as possible to proscribe Iranian-backed threats including the IRGC”, he said in a statement.
News of the IRGC’s proscription was also welcomed by Labour Friends of Israel, with its chair, Mark Sewards MP, saying: "I strongly welcome the announcement of new legislation honouring Labour's manifesto commitment to ban the IRGC.
"As LFI has consistently argued, Tehran's terror army and its proxies pose a clear and present danger to the UK's national security and, as we have seen in the appalling attacks in which they have been directly implicated in recent weeks, British Jews."
The party’s 2024 general election manifesto included a pledge to “take the approach used for dealing with non-state terrorism and adapt it to deal with state-based domestic security threats”.
However, the party was facing growing calls to introduce the measures rapidly following the recent spate of anti-Jewish attacks.
Lord Walney, co-chair of the APPG for Defending Democracy urged the government to make sure the legislation gets onto the statute book as soon as possible.
"The emergency of Iranian directed violence targeting British Jews and Islamist radicalisation requires action now - it’s not enough to promise a bill at some point in the next two years.
"Legislation to ban the IRGC and tackle extremism in the charity sector needs to be fast tracked with emergency legislation”, he said.
The prime minister revealed to the JC last month that he intended to bring in legislation to tackle state-based threats.
In a visit to Kenton Synagogue, one of the sites attacked, he said: “In relation to malign state actors more generally, proscription, we do need legislation in order to take necessary measures, and that is legislation that we're bringing forward as soon as we can.
"We go into a new session in a few weeks' time, and we'll bring that legislation forward.”
In a subsequent interview with the JC during his visit to Hatzola northwest, Starmer said that the government would “fast-track” the legislation in the coming weeks.
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