The situation
The United Kingdom’s first state-threat designations are now in force, covering Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR) and the GRU Volunteer Corps. Parliament approved the order on 13 July, and regulations brought the listings into effect on 17 July, nine days after the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026 received Royal Assent.
The regime permits the Home Secretary to designate bodies believed to be involved in foreign-power threat activity where designation is considered necessary for UK safety or interests. It creates offences for specified support, material assistance and obtaining material benefits involving listed bodies when statutory tests are met; maximum penalties can reach 14 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine. The offences can apply overseas to UK persons and Crown employees, while the legislation retains protections or defences for specified humanitarian activity and legitimate journalism.
Why it matters
The designations operationalise a dedicated UK domestic-security tool against foreign-state and proxy activity, supplementing existing criminal, immigration and sanctions measures. They raise legal and enforcement risk for UK-based or UK-linked persons dealing with the three listed bodies, but do not amount to financial sanctions or a blanket prohibition on engagement with Iran or Russia.
The move also adds diplomatic pressure on Iran and Russia by publicly linking the first use of the regime to the IRGC and a body the UK government assesses is part of a GRU-directed proxy network. Criminal liability is not automatic: it depends on the facts of an individual case and the statutory requirements.
What changed
On 17 July 2026, the first three bodies were added to Schedule 6A of the National Security Act 2023, bringing the new designation regime into operational effect.
The assessment
Current judgement
The immediate effect is a targeted expansion of UK domestic enforcement powers against state-linked threat actors, rather than a broad new sanctions regime.
What could challenge this assessment
The UK government’s characterisations of IMCR and the GRU Volunteer Corps are assessments in support of designation and are not independently corroborated in the supplied record.
Impacts
Military & Security
The new regime expands UK criminal-law tools against specified support for bodies the government links to Iranian and Russian state-threat activity.
Diplomacy
The first designations publicly increase UK pressure on Iran and Russia, whose state-linked actors are central to the regime’s initial use.
Economic Pressure
Listed bodies and relevant UK-linked counterparties face additional legal exposure, although the measure is separate from financial sanctions and does not automatically apply to all sanctioned entities.
What to watch
- Do UK authorities open investigations, bring charges or issue further enforcement guidance under the new designation offences?
- Does the Home Secretary add further bodies to Schedule 6A or receive removal applications from any of the three initial designees?
Evidence and uncertainty
Low confidence. Low confidence. 2 retained references from 1 reporting origins (GOV.UK). Claim-level independent corroboration has not been established. Confidence concerns the evidence for the reported development, not the probability of an outlook.
Useful context
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
An Iranian state military and security organisation.
It is one of the first three bodies designated under the UK state-threat regime.
Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR)
A body designated by the UK under the new state-threat regime.
It is among the first entities subject to the new designation offences.
GRU
Russia’s military intelligence service.
The UK government assesses the GRU Volunteer Corps to be part of a GRU-directed proxy network.
Geographic context
- 01London, UK (city)
- 02Moscow, Russia (city)
- 03Tehran, Iran (city)