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The UK government has imposed new sanctions on nine people and three entities accused of operating as Iranian proxies plotting attacks inside the UK and Europe.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: For years, Iran has been accused of using proxy networks and criminal gangs to conduct operations on UK soil, including assassinations, kidnappings, and intimidation campaigns targeting Iranian dissidents and Jewish communities. MI5, the UK’s domestic intelligence service, has reported that police disrupted over 20 Iran-backed plots described as “potentially lethal” from January 2022 through November 2025. Counter-terrorism investigations have led to 33 arrests so far, and eight of those individuals have been charged. Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), a recently emerged group with suspected ties to Iran, has taken credit for several of the incidents. Since the conflict with Iran kicked off, the UK bumped its terrorism threat ranking up to “severe,” which sits one notch below the top tier, and the Metropolitan Police in London also rolled out a dedicated unit tasked with safeguarding the Jewish community.

What’s going on now: The UK’s Foreign Office added 12 new designations to its sanctions list Monday, imposing travel bans and asset freezes on individuals and entities accused of carrying out “hostile activity” in the UK and elsewhere on behalf of Iran. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the package as part of what the UK government called a “day of action” against destabilizing activity by Iran and Russia, with London simultaneously announcing separate sanctions against Russia.

The main target in the package is the Zindashti criminal network, which the UK, US, and EU have all separately sanctioned in recent years and accused of running assassination and kidnapping operations against Iranian government critics under the direction of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The network’s alleged leader, Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti, was previously sanctioned by both the UK and US in 2024 and described as the boss of a global narcotics and trafficking operation run on behalf of Iranian intelligence. His nephew, Turkish national Ekrem Abdulkerym Oztunc, is among the nine individuals named in Monday’s package.

Also sanctioned were five members of the Zarringhalam family (Farhad, Fazlolah, Mansour, Nasser, and Pouria), accused of bankrolling Iran’s destabilizing operations. The US Treasury hit three of the brothers (Mansour, Nasser, and Fazlolah) with sanctions last year, citing their alleged participation in what officials call Iran’s “shadow banking” system, which the Treasury said had “collectively laundered billions of dollars” for Iran through front companies in the UAE and Hong Kong. Berelian Exchange and GCM Exchange, two currency houses tied to the family’s operation, also landed on the new sanctions list.

The other individuals sanctioned include Iranian nationals Nihat Abdul Kadir Asan and Reza Hamidiravari, and Azerbaijani national Namiq Salifov, all suspected of menacing, organizing, or carrying out attacks on British soil or abroad, though the UK government did not provide specific details of any of the plots. Iran, for its part, has consistently rejected any role in attacks or schemes targeting the UK or other nations.

In a statement, Secretary Cooper said, “This package of sanctions directly targets organizations and individuals who threaten security on UK streets and stability in the Middle East. Criminal proxies backed by parts of the Iranian regime who threaten security in the UK and Europe will not be tolerated, nor will illicit finance networks. We are coordinating these actions across Europe. We continue to press for a negotiated settlement and a long-term diplomatic solution in the Middle East, which urgently restores freedom of navigation to the Strait of Hormuz.”