The UK's MI5 intelligence agency Director General Ken McCallum warned Tuesday of threats to the UK coming from Russia, Iran and Islamist terrorist groups including the Islamic State (ISIS). McCallum made his remarks during the annual update on the threats facing the UK and his comments are considered unusual.
According to the MI5 head, the UK is dealing with a "staggering rise" in assassination attempts by Russia and Iran on its soil. He said that both of the UK's adversaries are hiring criminals "to do their dirty work."
McCallum noted that MI5 and the police have foiled 20 Iranian plots over the past two years and warned that Tehran might expand its targets in the UK if Israel launches a strong retaliatory strike in response to last week’s missile attacks.
McCallum said the war in the Middle East and Israel’s fighting with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen could lead to terror attacks in the UK. Talking about Iran, he mentioned that the escalation in the Middle East increases the likelihood of "an increase in — or broadening of -– Iranian state aggression in the UK”
The number of MI5 investigations aimed at thwarting threats to national security has increased by 48% over the past year. McCallum explained that most of the threats have come from Iran, Russia and China.
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He added that Russia’s military intelligence agency is trying to sow chaos in the UK and other European countries, partly through sabotage and arson. In his statement, McCallum noted that over 750 Russian diplomats have been ousted from European countries since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, and said that "the vast majority" of them were spies.
The MI5 chief added that 75% of the counterterrorism cases the UK is dealing with are related to radical Islam, while the rest involve far-right terrorism.
Meanwhile, Norway has raised its terrorism threat assessment to the second-highest level due to an increased risk of attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets, the national police directorate said on Tuesday.
Last week police in neighboring Denmark charged two men suspected of detonating hand grenades near Israel's Copenhagen embassy, while police in Sweden are investigating a suspected shooting near the Israeli diplomatic mission in Stockholm.
"PST raises the terror threat level in Norway from moderate to high as a result of the ongoing escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. It is primarily the threat to Jewish and Israeli targets that has been further intensified," local police said in a statement.
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