LONDON: British Foreign Secretary David Cameron during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed him that the UK will not ban Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to a British media report on Thursday Cameroon during a face-to-face meeting with Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Israel Katz said it is not possible to declare IRGC as a terrorist organization.
The Israeli government reportedly has asked the UK government to ban the IRGC after Iran’s drone and missile attack last week.
However, Cameron, in his response, told Netanyahu and Katz that such a measure would hinder Britain’s ability to communicate with Tehran.
British media quoted a source as saying that Camron during the meeting said communication links must remain open and that if the UK proscribes IRGC, it would not help the situation.
If the IRGC is banned in the UK, it would not be able to attend meetings, display its symbols, or campaign for it in the country.
The UK government has been considering the move for over a year, but Home Office officials have long warned against doing so. It strongly believes that such action would cut one of the few remaining diplomatic channels with Tehran.
However, the IRGC has been sanctioned by the British government on several occasions.
The US, which has already banned the IRGC, has also proposed that Britain should proscribe it. The IRGC’s navy has been recently included in a new list of joint sanctions imposed by London and Washington.
