British-Iranians in UK report safety concerns to authorities amid Iran war | UK news

Iranians living in the UK have raised security concerns with authorities due to rising tensions within the community due to conflicts with the US and Israel.

They claim online videos of allegedly “offensive” and “coercive” people have left some feeling unsafe in London, which is home to one of the UK’s largest Iranian communities.

“There are people who have lived here for over 40 years and there have been no problems, and suddenly every day we continue to hear about these pro-monarchists and their intimidation,” said British-Iranian activist Naghmeh Rajabi.

Rajabi, who came to England with his family at the age of 11 and whose relatives were killed by the former Iranian regime, said that he no longer felt safe going to the Finchley district of North London, known as Little Tehran, due to its large diaspora.

In recent weeks he has met with the Metropolitan police and Barnet council members to raise concerns about intimidation and harassment in the UK diaspora. These include online Persian videos showing individuals being “aggressive and aggressive”, as well as “forcing” store owners in London to display the lion and sun flag, a symbol of Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Rajabi said.

“We are very worried,” said Rajabi, who is a supporter of Maryam Rajavi, leader of the exiled opposition group Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK). The group has been accused of being a cult-like organization that once collaborated with Saddam Hussein and competed for leadership among factions in Iran.

“This situation will worsen unless concrete steps are taken,” Rjabi said.

Local police officers have met with community representatives and local businesses and increased patrols in Barnet in recent weeks to help manage tensions and reassure the community.

Det Supt Katie Harber, who leads policing in the borough, said: “London is a global city and the impact of events occurring thousands of kilometers away play out locally in the capital. We understand the fears many people in our Persian communities may have.”

The concerns come amid rising tensions more broadly linked to the Iran war. Last week, authorities banned the long-running Quds Day march as well as planned counter-protests, citing a high risk of disruption to public order. In early March, police arrested four people suspected of spying for Iran. Two of the men were charged Wednesday. On Friday, two people, one of them Iranian, were arrested for allegedly trying to enter the Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland.

Anglo-Iranians living in the UK have asked Keir Starmer not to allow the UK to be dragged further into the conflict. Following the death of Iran’s longtime religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, some took to the streets to support US and Israeli attacks, while others were in no mood to celebrate.

Now Anglo-Iranians, some of whom have fled Iran and united in anti-government protests in 2022, find themselves worried both about the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and about issues closer to home.

A recent petition posted on Change.org called on the Home Office to investigate groups of supporters in the UK of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former pro-western ruler, and “protect communities from intimidation and threats of violence”, including Iranians, Iraqis, Kurds and others.

Reached for comment, Pahlavi last week called on Iranians abroad to protest outside Iranian embassies during Chaharshanbe Suri, an ancient Persian fire festival.

Asked by CNN about online harassment from people claiming to be Pahlavi supporters, Pahlavi said: “I have always spoken out against any form of political violence or intimidation.”

Although the level of popular support that Pahlavi gained in Iran is unclear, activist and founder of the Iranian Front Vahid Beheshti said that it was “not possible” to unite all the different groups in Iran under a single person or ideology. The way forward for the transitional leader is to work together around a legal framework, he said.

“We have to be very aware that the regime is using every opportunity to spread this narrative that there is a huge divide between the Iranian opposition and the Iranian opposition. [that] “They can’t sit around the same table,” Beheshti said.

“This is a very famous narrative that the regime really wants to spread, to tell the international community that there is no new one,” he added.

Beheshti had previously led a two-year protest outside the State Department and was warned by authorities last year that he could be a target after the Israeli embassy in London was the target of an alleged terror plot.

“Most of the time, when the regime sees that it is collapsing, at this very critical moment, it uses the name of opposition against the opposition and essentially uses its monarchist mask to attack others,” he said.

According to Laila Jazayeri, director of the Anglo-Persian Women’s Association in the UK, Finchley had become “undoable”.

“What do you say to this? It’s an atmosphere of terror we live in Iran. It’s very intense,” he said.

Algeria hopes Rajavi will become the first female leader of modern Iran and has called on the British government to ban Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which former British leaders have previously rejected.

Cezayeri said he met with the police in recent weeks. “I don’t feel safe,” he said.