.webp&w=3840&q=75)
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran announced sanctions against Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, accusing London of involvement in hostile activities against the Islamic Republic, according to a statement issued by the Iranian foreign ministry on Saturday.
The ministry said the measures were taken in response to Britain's participation in American and Israeli aggression against Iran, including allowing the US to use British military bases and facilities, and providing logistical and intelligence support.
Under the measures, MI6 has been designated a hostile organisation under Iranian law, while the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force have been designated terrorist organisations.
The sanctions come as the US President Donald Trump appears to be leaning towards military strikes against Iran even as mediators shuttle between Tehran and the Gulf capitals.
Trump said early Sunday that the negotiations with Iran "are going fine," claiming that Iranian authorities "are not very reliable... They make a deal and then they back out."
Iran’s Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei made new threats against the US and Israel on Saturday after he said he had met with his top commanders.
"Should Iran’s enemies resume military or terrorist attacks, it will be the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation that will determine when and under what conditions those attacks will end," Khamenei said on X. "Any level or type of threat must be met with an immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response."
Britain initially declined to authorise American strikes from its bases but subsequently permitted the US military to use RAF Fairford in England and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for operations against Iranian missile facilities.
Relations have deteriorated further since Britain accused Iran of involvement in a suspected security operation targeting RAF Fairford in September. Tehran denied the allegations, while London imposed additional sanctions on two Iranian nationals in October.
Iran also continues to hold British nationals on espionage charges. Craig and Lindsay Foreman, arrested in January 2025 while travelling through Iran, were sentenced to 10 years in prison in February 2026. Both deny the charges. Their family met British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband in late October to press for their release.
Relations between Tehran and London have been strained since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, with disputes over sanctions, security and diplomatic relations. In November 2011, protesters stormed the British embassy in Tehran, damaging the compound and prompting Britain to close its embassy and expel Iranian diplomats.
Another longstanding dispute concerned hundreds of Chieftain tanks ordered by Iran's former shah before the revolution but never delivered. The disagreement led to decades of litigation before Britain settled a £393.8 million debt in March 2022, coinciding with the release of British-Iranian nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori from Iranian detention.
