Chris Phillips, the former head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, said Tehran-backed attacks likely as the security threat level is raised to severe
Armed police respond to an incident at the Israeli embassy(Image: TOLGA AKMEN/EPA/Shutterstock)
Iran has agents in the UK ready to create “mayhem” – increasing fears of a terror attack in the coming months, a former police chief has warned.
The threat level was raised to “severe” on Thursday, the second-highest ranking, meaning an atrocity is highly likely after yesterday’s Golders Green stabbings and a spate of antisemitic incidents.
It comes after British police arrested 26 people for various attacks launched since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran on February 28. There are fears Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may use proxy groups, radical organisations and criminal gangs against targets in European cities. The focus of retaliatory assaults is likely to be US, Jewish and Israeli targets.
Chris Phillips, the former head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, said: “Clearly a succession of attacks on the Jewish community have had an impact on the decision makers. What we’ve also seen over the last few months is a rise in intentions as a direct result of the Iranian US conflict. There is absolutely no doubt that the IRGC has many operatives within the United Kingdom to call on to create mayhem.”
READ MORE: Golders Green terror suspect remanded into custody after Jewish men knifed down in streetREAD MORE: Golders Green stabbing live: Suleiman ‘tried to murder friend before attack’
Newly founded Iran-linked terror group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin alIslamia has claimed responsibility for 15 attempted or executed firebombings targeting Jewish property in Britain and across Europe. Briton has been experiencing a gradual increase in terror threats for some time, driven by a rise in both Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorism.
MI5’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised the level to “severe” amid an increase in antisemitic incidents since the October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel which triggered the Israeli war on Gaza. More than 70,000 people have been killed by the Israelis in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory.
Mr Phillips said the public can expect to see more armed police at train stations and large events in the coming weeks while businesses will increase security measures. He added: “There is an expectation that we all do a bit to increase security, report suspicious behaviour but most importantly keep on business as usual and not be frightened by terrorists.”
Terrorism expert Sajjan Gohel, International Security director at the Asia-Pacific Foundation, said JTAC’s decision was the re-emergence of a “persistent baseline risk” that never truly disappeared.
Mr Gohel said: “JTAC is effectively signalling that the tempo of threat activity has increased. This could be through credible intelligence, or lone-actor mobilisation, or copycat risk, all of which indicate an attack is once again considered highly likely.
“What makes the current environment more complex is the convergence of threats. We are no longer dealing with a single ideology focused on mass casualty attacks. The current types of attacks are low-sophistication but still designed to create a sense of fear, uncertainty and insecurity.
“Global events are acting as accelerants. Conflicts in the Middle East, tensions involving Iran, alongside social media ecosystems compress the time between exposure, radicalisation, and action. This increases the likelihood of low-sophistication but high-impact attacks, particularly from individuals acting alone.
“For Britons, this should not necessarily mean a dramatic change in daily life, but it does mean heightened vigilance in public spaces and a greater emphasis on community-level awareness. The threat is less about large, coordinated plots and more about unpredictability.
“Looking ahead, the threat picture is likely to remain at ‘severe’ for sustained periods. The challenge for the authorities will be managing volume, identifying which individuals among a growing pool of concern will move from intent to action.”
More far-right extremists were referred to the government’s anti-terrorism programme Prevent last year than those suspected of Islamist extremism. In total, 8,778 referrals were made because of suspicions of extremist radicalisation in the year to March 2025, 27% more than the previous year and the highest number of referrals in a single year since records began 10 years ago.
Security minister Dan Jarvis says people should be “alert and vigilant, but not alarmed” by the decision to raise the UK terror threat level to “severe”. Essa Suleiman, 45, appeared in court on Friday charged with attempted murder after two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, north London on Wednesday. Both men suffered serious injuries and were treated in hospital, with the Metropolitan Police declaring it a terrorist incident. Suleiman was remanded to appear at the Old Bailey at a later date.
