At a time of increasing isolation and in face of growing economic sanctions,
Iran is operating a number of NGOs inside Britain aimed at advancing the Islamic
Revolution, according to a new research paper compiled by the Meir Amit
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center on Tuesday.
According to
the report, two of the organizations are run by senior Iranian clerics who are
closely affiliated with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Two
additional organizations are run by a Pakistani Shi’ite and an Iranian
expat.
“The organizations present themselves as independent but they are
really a branch of the Iranian regime and are used by Tehran to advance Iranian
interests in Britain and the West,” the report claims.
The Intelligence
and Terrorism Information Center was established in 2001 as a branch of the
Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center. It works closely with
Israel’s various intelligence agencies and is run by Dr. Reuven Erlich, a former
colonel in Military Intelligence.
One of the groups mentioned in the
report, called AhlulBayt Islamic Mission (AIM), is an offshoot of a Tehran-based
organization of the same name which is run by Mohammad Hassan Akhtari, Iran’s
former ambassador to Syria.
According to the report, when Akhtari was in
Damascus, he assisted Hezbollah while it was being established in the mid-
1980s.
The London branch, the report claimed, works to strengthen Iran in
the United Kingdom. One post on the organization’s website claimed that the
United States and Israel were behind the violent uprising in
Syria.
Another organization mentioned in the report is the Islamic Center
of England, which was established in 1996 by Ayatollah Mohsen Araki who served
as Khamenei’s personal envoy to London in the 1990s.
According to the
report, the center is active in “Jerusalem Day” activities which are held
annually by Iran to oppose Zionism and protest against the State of
Israel.
The report included photos from anti- Israel demonstrations held
recently in London where some of the participants waved Hezbollah flags were and
carried signs reading “We are all Hezbollah.”
“Britain is an important
area of operations for Iran in exporting the revolution,” the report claims.
“Britain is an important ally of the United States and there are convenient
conditions for operating there due to the large and developed media, the
tolerant authorities and the large Muslim population.”