Iran’s ambassador to the UK has been summoned by the Foreign Office following what it described as his country’s "reckless and destabilising actions" both within Britain and overseas.
The diplomatic intervention comes after an Iranian national and a British-Iranian dual national were accused of carrying out hostile surveillance on London’s Jewish community.
Instructed by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, the summoning of Seyed Ali Mousavi saw Middle East minister Hamish Falconer convey the UK’s grave concerns.
The Foreign Office reiterated that it takes the threat posed by Iran and its proxies "extremely seriously".
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The summons follows the recent charging of two individuals, one Iranian national and one British-Iranian dual national, under the National Security Act, on suspicion of providing assistance to a foreign intelligence service.
“National security remains our top priority, and we take threats posed by Iran and those who do its bidding extremely seriously.
“This government will take all measures necessary to protect the British people, including exposing Iran’s reckless and destabilising actions at home and abroad.”
Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, and Alireza Farasati, 22, are accused of engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between July 9 and August 15 last year.
The men were arrested on Friday March 6.
Sir Keir Starmer has said he felt “disgust” at the arson attack on four Jewish ambulances and said that targeting the emergency vehicles is “simply horrendous”.
The prime minister, who met with Jewish community leaders on Monday, said: “The idea that we live in a society where people should feel they need to hide their identity or their religion is, frankly, abhorrent.”
The incident, which took place in Golders Green, is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime by the Metropolitan Police but not as terrorism at this stage.
No arrests have been made at this stage.
A Telegram post from Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI) has circulated online which claims to be the group behind the arson.
An unverified video, posted after 6am on Monday on the group’s Telegram channel, showed street view Google Maps, images of the ambulances and footage of explosions.
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