Arrests have been made across the UK by police investigating attacks linked to Iran and directed at Jewish targets, analysis by The National shows.
The latest suspect, Essa Suleiman, 45, a British national born in Somalia, was remanded after appearing in court on Friday charged with attempted murder after two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, north London, on Wednesday. The attack was formally declared a terrorist incident and counter-terrorism officers are leading an investigation.
The UK terrorism threat level has been raised to “severe” after the stabbings, meaning a terrorist attack in the country is “highly likely”.
The attacks have included the attempted firebombing of the Iran International TV station, a broadcaster critical of the Tehran regime. While those incidents have been concentrated in north London, many of those detained are from outside the city.
In recent weeks there have been a series attacks on mainly Jewish targets claimed by a new group, Harakat Ashab Al Yamin Al Islamia, which translates as the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand. It is also known as Ashab Al Yamin.
The group is widely believed by experts to be a front for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is part of Tehran’s efforts to sow division in Europe.
As The National has revealed, Iran is using social media to groom people to carry out attacks on Jewish targets in the UK, giving it a much greater geographical reach, beyond the need to have face-to-face contact with potential recruits. A map reveals how far and wide the pool of potential attackers has stretched.
Attacks in Europe began with the firebombing of synagogue in Belgium, followed by attacks on Jewish targets in the Netherlands. But soon the focus of Ashab Al Yamin’s activities centred on the UK.
A familiar pattern has emerged of a reported attack followed by a video posted on its own Telegram channel, or those of Iran-aligned Iraqi Shiite militia groups, often showing a petrol bomb being thrown at a target, accompanied by a message in English and Hebrew.
Since an attack on ambulances run by the Jewish charity Hatzola in Golders Green on March 23, counter-terrorism police have made 28 arrests linked to various incidents in the UK. Many have been in London, but people have also been arrested in the area just north of the capital, extending to the town of Stevenage, about 50km away.
But arrests have been made as far as Barnstaple in Devon (340km from London) and Birmingham (190km from the capital).
Incidents have included attempted arson attacks on the former offices of a Jewish charity and synagogues in areas of north London with large populations. A drone was also flown near the Israeli embassy in the city.
As well as the attack on Iran International, a memorial wall erected for protesters killed in anti-regime protests in Iran was also firebombed.
The raising of the terrorism threat level was made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre and the decision is not solely a result of the Golders Green attack, the Home Office said.
The threat level has been “rising for some time” and the move was made against a backdrop of “increased state-linked physical threats, which are encouraging acts of violence, including against the Jewish community”, it added.
Laurence Taylor, head of counter-terrorism policing, said officers had seen an “elevated threat” to the Jewish community. “Our casework is increasing across a number of ideologies and, within that, we are seeing an elevated threat to Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions in the UK," he added. “We’re also working against an unpredictable global situation that has consequences closer to home, including physical threats by state-linked actors.”
Already the increased threat level is being seen at public events in the UK, including cricket matches in London at the weekend. Surrey County Cricket told spectators it had been "in regular communication" with the Metropolitan Police and "will adjust our own security measures in line with the increased threat level".
There will be an increased security presence and heightened bag searches at the Oval cricket ground in central London in the coming days, the club added.
Mr Suleiman will also face an attempted murder charge in relation to an incident near London Bridge earlier on the same day as the Golders Green stabbings.
