Police against UK terrorism arrests Iranian nationals in incursions throughout England

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The British terrorism officers have arrested eight men, including seven Iranian nationals, in connection with two alleged plots, said Metropolitan Police in London on Sunday morning.

One of the alleged plots was a planned attack on an unspecified location, according to police.

Yvette Cooper, Secretary of the Interior, said that the arrests were “serious events that show the continued requirement to adapt our response to national security threats”.

He added: “The Government continues to work with police and intelligence agencies to support all the evaluations of action and security needed to keep the country safe.”

Five of the men were detained in England on Saturday, suspicion of preparing a terrorist act against a “specific premise,” said metropolitan police.

Four of these individuals were Iranian citizens while the nationality of the fifth was still being established, according to the MET.

In another operation against terrorism on the same day, three other Iranian nationals were arrested in London, the Met said in a separate statement.

The head of Britain Domestic Service MI5Ken McCallum said in October that his officers and police had faced 20 “potentially lethal” plots endorsed by Iran since 2022, more aimed at dissident Iranians living in Britain.

The spy chief said at that moment that Mi5 had seen Iran launch “plot after the plot … on an unprecedented staircase”.

The MET said that the first operation involved five arrests in Swindon, West London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester with the support of police officers against terrorism, Grand Manchester police and Wiltshire police.

“As part of the research, officers are also searching for various addresses to the areas of the Grand Manchester, London and Swindon in relation to this research,” he said.

The MET said that police officers had been in contact with the “affected place” to provide relevant advice and support.

Dominican Murphy, head of the MET terrorism command, urged the audience to “keep watching” and transmit any relevant information they had seen or heard.

“This is a fast moving research and we are working closely with those of the affected place to keep them up to date,” he said.

“Research is still in its early stages and we are exploring several lines of research to establish any potential motivation and to identify if there may be any more risk linked to the public with this topic.”

In the second operation, the MET said that the searches remained in all three addresses. The MET said that this investigation had no relation to the arrests of the five men.

Police did not reveal details of the alleged plot, citing operational reasons.