The war in Gaza could lead to more terrorist attacks in the UK, including by Iran, the chief spy warned on Tuesday.
MI5 director-general Ken McCallum told reporters the Security Service is paying “very close attention” as the Israel-Hamas war rages in the Middle East after an unprecedented public gathering of security heads of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance hosted by the Hoover Institution.
“There clearly is the possibility that profound events in the Middle East will either generate more volume of UK threat and/or changes in shape in terms of what is being targeted, in terms of how people are taking inspiration,” Mr. Callum said.
“Terrorists can draw inspiration not just from things they see happening inside the UK but things they see happening in the Middle East or on the continent or elsewhere,” he added.
“So we would be silly not to be paying very close attention, and we are.”
The MI5 boss highlighted Iran-generated threats, warning the Iranian regime may shift its targets from dissidents and “move into new directions.”
“We have obviously been concerned about Iran’s behaviour in the UK for a long time,” he told reporters.
“In particular, the past 18 months or so have been a particularly intensive phase of Iran-generated threat on UK soil. Plainly, events in the Middle East sharpen the possibility that Iran might decide to move into new directions,” he said.
“I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that could include the UK, but we are already operating at a high level of Iran-generated threat.”
Mr. Callum said Iranian activities in the UK for the past 18 months or so have “not exclusively, but predominantly” been targeted at “the regime’s own internal enemies, dissidents, Farsi media organisations.”
Haphazardly Inspired Lone-wolf Attackers
Speaking to Sky News, the MI5 chief said the “dominant” risk of terrorism is still from those inspired by Islamist extremist ideologies, while right-wing extremists take up a quarter of the services’ attention.Asked if there are concerns about “an alignment of ideologies” between groups such as ISIS and Hamas, Mr. Callum said much of the risks in the UK won’t be from members of certain terrorist groups.
“... in contrast to the kinds of counter-terrorist work I was doing 20 years ago, typically nowadays and it’s more commonly the case that would-be terrorists in the UK do not have necessarily membership or close connection to specific terrorist organisations and often they don’t necessarily even have particularly well-defined ideologies,” he said.
“They often just draw inspiration in a slightly haphazard way from things they consume on television or online.”
There remains the possibility that major terrorist groups may align with one another, “but much of the UK risk wouldn’t necessarily be driven by events at that level,” Mr. Callum said.
“I will be driven more in slightly haphazard ways by often lone individuals self-initiating and mobilising toward some form of violence based on their sometimes distorted understanding of what they consume on the internet.”
The 45-year-old, who identified himself as a member of the ISIS terrorist group, previously failed to claim asylum in 2019 and has been watched by police over suspected involvement in people smuggling.
Belgium has raised Brussels terrorism alert to its highest level following the incident.
The UK’s terrorism threat alert level is currently at “substantial,” which sits in the middle of the five-level framework.
