On 17 July the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps became one of the first three organisations formally designated as a threat to national security under the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026. Alongside it sit Russia's GRU Volunteer Corps and the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right. Parliament approved the order on 13 July and the designations took effect four days later.
The practical change is what the label switches on. It is now a criminal offence to express support for any of the three, or to assist, accept or obtain a material benefit such as payment from them, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Where a designated group is behind an act of sabotage, arson or a similar hostile act, prosecutors can reach for the National Security Act 2023, where the maximum is life.
The quieter shift is evidential. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she had 'rapidly designated 3 groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars', while the Prime Minister set out the wider intent: 'We will never let Britain be a playground for states who want to spread fear, division and violence on our streets.' Behind the language is a real lowering of the bar. Under the new regime prosecutors no longer need to establish a foreign-power connection in every case, which has long been one of the hardest elements to prove in state-threat prosecutions.
For anyone running protective security, the designation reads as a signal about the threat picture more than a headline. It formalises what the intelligence community has been saying about Iranian and Russian activity on UK soil, and it widens the range of conduct that is now unambiguously criminal. Vetting, due diligence on funding and supply chains, and awareness briefings should all account for it.
