UK sanctions Zindashti Network and Zarringhalam family members

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The British government on Monday sanctioned nine people and three organizations it accused of engaging in “hostile activity” on behalf of Iran, saying the alleged activity threatens U.K. and global security.

In a statement, the U.K. Foreign Office said it froze assets and banned travel as part of a package aimed at countering what it described as the Islamic Republic’s use of gangs to carry out threats overseas and its use of illicit financing that helps it to wage war.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the sanctions “directly targets organizations and individuals who threaten security on U.K. streets and stability in the Middle East,” adding that “Criminal proxies backed by parts of the Iranian regime who threaten security in the U.K. and Europe will not be tolerated, nor will illicit finance networks.”

The sanctions included the Zindashti Network, which the U.K. government said was involved with an armed group backed by Iran that threatened, planned or attacked people in the U.K. The U.S. government sanctioned the network two years ago, saying it was run by a narcotics trafficker who operated on orders of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security to assassinate and kidnap critics of Iran.

Britain also targeted five members of the Zarringhalam family, saying they used funds to try to destabilize the U.K. and the Middle East. The U.S. had sanctioned three brothers from the family—Mansour, Nasser and Fazlolah Zarringhalam—last year, alleging they used their shadow banking network to launder billions of dollars to evade sanctions for Iran’s petroleum exporters and military.

The British announcement also said four other people—two Iranians, a Turkish national and an Azerbaijani national—were accused of threatening, planning or carrying out attacks, but it did not provide details of those plots.

The U.K. government has repeatedly accused Iran of plotting killings and other attacks on British soil, and it said on Monday that it has sanctioned 550 Iranians and organizations in connection with those accusations. Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service said law enforcement has thwarted more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots between January 2022 and November.

An Iranian proxy group has taken credit for a recent string of suspected antisemitic attacks, including stabbings and attempted firebombings at synagogues, according to the Associated Press report.