UK's terrorism charges against seven Iranian nationals baseless: Tehran

Tehran, May 7 (IANS) Iran's Foreign Ministry has rejected allegations made by the UK Home Office and certain British parliamentarians following the arrest of several Iranian nationals over terrorism charges, state media reported on Wednesday.

The British Police arrested the suspects in separate operations from different parts of the United Kingdom.

Alireza Yousefi, the Director General for the Western Europe department at Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, warned about the "negative consequences" of the "baseless accusations" and urged London to immediately inform the legal basis for detention of the Iranian nationals and to facilitate consular visits without delay, country's official news agency IRNA reported.

Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi stated that Iran is ready to provide assistance to Britain in its investigation on seven Iranian nationals arrested over allegations of "terrorism" if misconduct on their part is credibly established.

"Disturbed to learn that Iranian citizens have reportedly been arrested by UK security services. If credible allegations of misconduct are established, Iran stands ready to assist investigations. We call on the UK to ensure respect for our citizens' rights and afford them due process," Araghchi posted on X.

The UK's counter-terrorism police arrested eight men, including seven Iranian nationals, during multiple raids carried out across different parts of the country as confirmed by the Metropolitan Police on Sunday.

According to the authorities, five individuals -- four of whom are Iranian nationals -- were taken into custody on Saturday on suspicion of terrorism offences linked to an alleged plot to target specific premises.

The arrests took place in Swindon, west London, Stockport, Rochdale, and Manchester. The fifth suspect, whose identity was not confirmed, had been reportedly released on bail under strict conditions.

In a separate operation on the same day, three other Iranian nationals were arrested in London as part of another counter-terrorism investigation, the Metropolitan Police said in a separate statement.

Meanwhile, addressing the House of Commons on Tuesday, Britain’s Minister for Security Dan Jarvis described the arrests as some of the largest counter-state threats and counter-terrorism actions that Britain have seen in recent times.

"What now follows is an incredibly complex set of investigations, involving hundreds more officers carrying out forensic searches, collecting vital evidence across different sites across the country and securing witness statements, backed up by the continued efforts of our security and intelligence agencies," he stated

"At this stage in the operations and investigations, it would not be appropriate for me to speculate on or comment further on the details of these two cases and the motivations behind any of the threats that were posed. Let me be clear: anyone in the UK who works for the Iranian state must declare it or they will be committing a serious criminal offence. We will also go after the criminal networks and enablers that Iran uses to carry out its work," the minister said.

Since 2022, British authorities have thwarted more than 20 such plots and have imposed sanctions on a Swedish-based criminal network allegedly connected to Iran. This group has been accused of targetting Israeli and Jewish interests across Europe.

--IANS

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