Iran urges UK to uphold rights of 8 Iranians arrested in terrorism investigations

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday urged the United Kingdom to “ensure respect” for the rights of Iranian nationals, a day after British counter-terrorism police secured arrest warrants to extend the detention of seven out of eight Iranians arrested on Saturday. Five are being held “on suspicion of terrorism offences,” while three others were detained in a separate investigation by London police's Counter Terrorism Command. 

In a statement on X, Araghchi noted that he was “disturbed to learn that Iranian citizens have reportedly been arrested by UK security services,” expressing his country’s readiness “to assist investigations” if “credible allegations of misconduct are established.”

“We call on the UK to ensure respect for our citizens' rights and afford them due process,” the Iranian foreign minister added.

Araghchi’s remarks came a day after British counter-terrorism police secured warrants to further detain seven out of eight Iranians arrested on Saturday, in two separate investigations.

“Detectives have secured warrants of further detention for four of the five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences this weekend. The men can now be held for questioning until next Saturday [May 10],” London's Metropolitan Police Service said in a post on X.

“All five men, who are all Iranian nationals, were arrested on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act,” the British police elaborated in a statement, adding that the fifth man was “released on bail, with conditions, to a date in May.” 

The five men were arrested over a suspected plot to target a specific premises, however the British police have not named the targeted site.

The Metropolitan Police stated in another Monday post on X that “Warrants of further detention have also been secured in relation to three men arrested as part of a separate and unrelated national security investigation.”

The three people were “arrested in London as part of a Counter Terrorism Policing investigation,” the Metropolitan Police had previously explained in a Sunday statement, clarifying that “this investigation is not connected to the arrest of five people yesterday [Saturday] as part of a separate Met Counter Terrorism operation.”

Dan Jarvis, the UK’s security minister on Tuesday described the two operations as “significant and complex,” and that “they were some of the largest counter-state threats and counter-terrorism actions we have seen in recent times.”

Jarvis emphasized the British government’s “response to the unacceptable threat we face from the Iranian state, and the steps we are taking to ensure that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to disrupt and degrade Iran’s malign activity on UK soil.”

In early March, the UK announced it would require the Iranian state to register all activities aimed at exerting political influence within the UK, subjecting Tehran to an increased level of scrutiny.

Jarvis then stated that he would include Iran's state institutions, its security services, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the highest tier of an upcoming registration scheme, designed to safeguard against covert foreign influence.

In an October speech, Ken McCallum, the director of the UK’s MI5 domestic security service, stated that at least 20 “potentially lethal” plots backed by Iran have been thwarted in Britain since 2022. These plots were primarily aimed at dissident Iranians who oppose the Islamic Republic.