![\"Iran-Backed](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/Iran-Backed_Terror_Cells_Ready_to_Strike_UK_Experts_Warn_Amid_Crisis_COBRA_Meeting_Today_-_Report.jpg\" "\\"Iran-Backed_Terror_Cells_Ready_to_Strike_UK_Experts_Warn_Amid_Crisis_COBRA_Meeting_Today_-_Report\\"")
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Iran’s regime is considered behind only Russia and China as the greatest threat to Britain\u2019s security from a state actor among senior players in MI5 and MI6, according to Britain’s Express.<\/p>\n
With the seizure of the British flagged Stena Impero oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, fears Tehran funded terror cells across Europe could be given the all-clear have intensified, the Express wrote on Monday.<\/p>\n
The Daily Telegraph reported the cells are linked to Lebanese Hezbollah which is active in the Syrian Civil War.<\/p>\n
It has been reported counter-terrorism police disrupted a cell in 2015 that was stockpiling tonnes of explosives.<\/p>\n
Sources believe the cell was prepared to cause \u201ca lot of damage\u201d with “proper organised terrorism”.<\/p>\n
An intelligence source said: \u201cIran uses proxies and they have control of a network of individuals linked to Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
\u201cIran has Hezbollah operatives in position to carry out a terrorist attack in the event of a conflict. That is the nature of the domestic threat Iran poses to the UK.\u201d
Iran’s regime has been blamed for cyberattacks in the UK, one on Members of Parliament in 2017 and another on Post Office, local government and private sector emails at the end of last year.<\/p>\n
The UK Department of Transport have stated that the Steno Impero was in Omani waters when it was seized before being re-routed by the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and produced naval charts to support this claim.<\/p>\n
The British Government described the incident, a response to the seizure of Panamanian flagged Grace I in Gibraltar, as \u201cillegal\u201d and wrote in a letter to the UN Security Council: “Current tensions are extremely concerning, and our priority is to de-escalate. We do not seek confrontation with Iran. But it is unacceptable and highly escalatory to threaten shipping going about its legitimate business through internationally recognised transit corridors.”<\/p>\n
Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi said on Saturday: “The mullahs\u2019 unbridled actions in the Persian Gulf for blackmail need a firm response by the international community. They should not be allowed to be emboldened. Force &firmness are the language they understand well. They must not be given the chance for further blackmail.”<\/p>\n
\nThe mullahs\u2019 unbridled actions in the Persian Gulf for blackmail need a firm response by the international community. They should not be allowed to be emboldened. Force &firmness are the language they understand well. They must not be given the chance for further blackmail <\/p>\n