A British Iranian says he is living in fear after an apparent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) agent offered him £40,000 to murder an anti-regime journalist in the UK.
Speaking to the JC on condition of anonymity, “Nima” – not his real name – explained how a summer holiday turned into a terrifying encounter with a person who hinted he worked for the brutal militia, which is widely suspected of being behind numerous attacks on Jewish sites in the UK.
Nima, who has lived in Britain for a decade working as a bartender, was visiting an Iranian restaurant in a country in southern Europe where he had previously lived when he was approached by two men, one of whom he recognised from years ago in Iran.
“The restaurant was packed, mostly with Iranians, including refugees,” he said. “Many of them seemed to know each other and were openly discussing plans to reach the UK.”
When it became clear that Nima and his friends were visiting from London, conversations quickly turned to life in Britain.
“People were asking about work, money, whether it is really possible to build a life there,” he said. “Some were already saying it was not as easy as they had imagined.”
Towards the end of the evening, two men approached him. One claimed he was planning to open a bar in London as a route to securing a visa and asked for Nima’s contact details. The proposal initially appeared plausible, even attractive.
Hours later, the man requested a second meeting.
At that meeting, “he arrived with two others, including the person I knew. Something felt wrong immediately,” Nima said. “He spoke quietly, reminding me that life in the UK is difficult. Then he began mentioning personal details about me, showing how much he knew.”
What followed was, in Nima’s account, a clear attempt at recruitment.
“He told me: ‘You are a decent man. You have family in Iran who need your support. I would like to offer you a job, with an initial payment of £40,000.’”
The conversation then turned to the online activity of Nima, who has a large social media following.
The man named an Iranian journalist based in London with whom Nima had engaged online.
“‘I can see you argue with him regularly. I do not like him either. I want to punish him,’” Nima recalled the man saying.
“‘Can you do it yourself, or find someone who can?’”
The journalist is known for his work with an anti-regime Persian language broadcaster. Nima said his interactions with him had been limited to online disagreements.
“The offer was immediate,” Nima said. “He told me I could receive £20,000 in cash that day, and the rest once I identified the journalist’s location. They believed he was living in a safe house.”
The proposal escalated further.
“We need someone who can do it cleanly, either you or someone you trust,” he was told.
Nima said the men then attempted to make the plan more practical, and more tempting.
“He asked whether I still used cannabis, and who I got it from. He said people like that would do anything for money.”
Shaken, Nima struggled to respond. The acquaintance he recognised began encouraging him to accept.
“He kept saying I could use the money to buy a home, to build a better life for my child,” Nima said. “The man never clearly said who he worked for, but my acquaintance told me he could use his influence inside Iran to solve problems for my family.”
The implication, he said, was clear. “He told me: ‘You could even return to Iran. There is no one above Sepah,’” he added, using the Persian term for the IRGC, hinting his involvement with the IRGC.
The meeting ended with a veiled threat.
“At the very least, he said I should establish contact with the journalist and find out where he lives. Then he reminded me that my parents are still in Iran.”
Nima left the meeting saying he would consider the offer. Instead, he returned to the UK, reported the approach to the police, and warned the journalist. He now lives with persistent fear.
“I feel like I am being watched,” he said. “Like they could come after me at any time.”
The case reflects a broader pattern. Iran-aligned 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 and Europe, including those on two north London synagogues last month.
In Britain, security concerns have intensified. Ken McCallum, director general of MI5, has repeatedly warned that the Iranian regime, acting through the IRGC, poses a “potentially lethal” threat. Since 2022, dozens of Iran-linked plots targeting dissidents, journalists and Jewish and Israeli individuals have been disrupted.
The IRGC has also been accused of detaining dual nationals as leverage in disputes with Western governments. The case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, arrested in 2016 by the IRGC’s intelligence arm, became emblematic of this practice. Iranian state-linked media, including Fars News Agency, claimed she was released only after the UK settled a longstanding £400 million debt, a characterisation disputed by British officials.
In February 2026, the European Union moved to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation following the mass killing of protesters in Iran and escalating threats on European soil. Sir Keir Starmer has said that the government would bring forward legislation to ban the militia in the next session of parliament.
Since the start of the conflict involving Israel, the United States and Iran, IRGC-linked media networks have intensified their use of Western social media platforms. Their output often takes the form of carefully framed human-interest stories designed to generate sympathy and shape public opinion, while fuelling antisemitic and anti-Western narratives.
One widely circulated video showed a young IRGC soldier who had lost his limbs in an airstrike while operating a missile launcher. The social media footage was presented as evidence of the human cost of war and was shared by activists, journalists and some British media platforms, often portraying him as an innocent conscript.
Attempts by Iranian activists in the diaspora to challenge this framing gained little traction. They pointed out that IRGC personnel have played a central role in the violent suppression of anti regime protests inside Iran, and argued that public sympathy for such figures risks obscuring that record.
Yet these counter narratives have struggled to gain prominence. Critics argue that the absence of a formal proscription of the IRGC in the UK has created a permissive environment in which its content can be circulated, reframed and legitimised without legal restriction, enabling its messaging to reach wider audiences.
The IRGC began expanding its activities beyond Iran’s borders during the Iran-Iraq War, building networks of non-state armed groups across the region. At the centre of these operations is the Quds Force, which functions as the organisation’s external arm. It has cultivated ties with armed groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Yemen, providing training, funding, weapons and strategic guidance.
The force has also been linked to operations beyond the Middle East, including the AMIA bombing, in which 85 people were killed.
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