Despite the introduction of the National Security Act and the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS)—both heralded as crucial measures to curb hostile state influence in Britain—the annual Al-Quds Day rally, organized by pro-Iranian activists in the U.K., went ahead on March 23, 2025.
This annual event, originally conceived by Ayatollah Khomeini, has long projected Iran’s soft power in the West.
Many had hoped that these new laws, coupled with warnings from the Home Office on X directed at Iranian actors in the U.K., would finally put an end to this state-sponsored spectacle. Yet, once again, the U.K. government has displayed utter cowardice and indecision, allowing a regime whose supporters chant “Death to England” to parade its influence openly through the streets of London.
A Stark Double Standard
While Iran has established numerous outlets across the U.K. to push its narratives, the British government has failed miserably to achieve any reciprocal presence in Iran. The British Council, which promotes British culture overseas, remains shut and the BBC—constantly targeted by the Iranian regime—has been unable to operate an office in Tehran. The imbalance is glaring: While the U.K. tolerates Iran’s influence, Iran continues to suppress any British presence within its own borders.
A Toothless Response from U.K. Government
Officials have failed to enforce the National Security Act and FIRS, which were meant to regulate foreign influence operations. In July 2023, State Security Minister Tom Tugendhat boasted that foreign influence operations would be prosecuted when the Act received Royal Assent. Tugendhat’s assurances appear to have been little more than political theater.
Police officers tasked with overseeing the rally had no idea what FIRS or the National Security Act even were. This raises serious questions: What is the point of these laws if those meant to uphold them are unaware of their existence? What is the point of the State Minister for Security publishing a video in July 2023 saying the Act is in force and the police and security forces have the full power to make arrests, when the police have never heard of the act or who the State Minister for Security is?
It underscores the government’s lack of political will to confront Iran’s growing influence, opting instead for empty rhetoric and performative outrage.
The U.K.’s Self-Inflicted Weakness
The fact that Iran, a state that actively incites hatred against the U.K., is permitted to organize marches on British streets is a national disgrace. It is a testament to the U.K. government’s failure to stand up for its own interests, letting an authoritarian regime expand its footprint unchecked. Meanwhile, those who genuinely seek to hold Tehran accountable are left wondering whether Britain’s much-vaunted new security measures were ever intended to be enforced in the first place.
If the U.K. is serious about countering hostile state influence, it must stop enabling it within its own borders. Otherwise, laws like the National Security Act and FIRS will remain nothing more than paper tigers while Iran’s network in the U.K. grows stronger by the year.
