UK to introduce legislation to proscribe the IRGC

28 April 2026

The UK Prime Minister has said the government will introduce new legislation that would enable the UK to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.

The UK Terrorism Act 2000 does not allow the proscription of state-backed groups as terrorist organisations. A review by the UK independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, recommended in May 2025 that new legislation be introduced to issue statutory alert and liability threat notices against Foreign Intelligence Services, a “proscription-style tool” which would make it a criminal offence to invite support for or promote a designated group that is backed by a foreign state. This would be the equivalent to terrorism proscription under the Terrorism Act.

The IRGC is already subject to UK sanctions under the Iran (Sanctions) Regulations 2023. The UK has sanctioned the IRGC, as well as numerous individual IRGC commanders and members, with asset freezes, travel bans and director disqualification sanctions. The sanctions are distinct from terrorism proscription and proscription criminalises membership of, and support for, an organisation as such, and carries a range of specific criminal offences and police powers that sanctions do not.

The EU proscribed the IRGC as a terrorist entity in January 2026, and the US designated it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2019. A terrorist entity listing (or Foreign Terrorist Organization designation in the US context) means that the organisation is recognised as a terrorist group, triggering a range of prohibitions including on providing material support and associated criminal offences.

See our Iran regime pages for information on UK, EU and US sanctions on Iran.