Iran is exploiting illegal migrant routes across the English Channel to infiltrate Britain with intelligence operatives, according to a report by The Telegraph.
The newspaper reports that British authorities have disrupted multiple attempts by individuals linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to enter the UK by posing as illegal migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.
According to The Telegraph, the Home Office detected and blocked some of the suspected operatives using surveillance drones, watchtowers, and facial recognition technology deployed along the south coast.
The report raises fresh concerns over the national security implications of Britain’s ongoing small boats crisis.
More than 30,000 Iranian nationals are believed to have reached the UK via illegal Channel crossings, although it remains unclear how many suspected intelligence operatives may have entered successfully.
Iran has been caught sending suspected covert operatives across the English Channel into the UK, The Telegraph can reveal
🔗 https://t.co/j1ScpjUicS pic.twitter.com/OBkZvOkV1b
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 24, 2026
The Telegraph also reports that additional individuals linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are believed to have entered Britain through conventional air travel.
An unnamed Iranian official told the newspaper that Tehran’s security apparatus exerts influence over many of the people-smuggling networks used by migrants attempting to reach Europe.
“These smuggling routes are more important and useful than the missiles for us,” the official reportedly said. “We do not need a missile to target London. It’s easier than that.”
The source also claimed Iran already has “revolutionary people” in London awaiting instructions and warned that the regime could “easily make London unsafe” if it chose to do so.
The revelations come amid growing concerns over Iranian activity inside the UK amid their ongoing conflict with the United States.
British security services have repeatedly warned of an increase in Iran-backed assassination plots, surveillance operations and other hostile state activity targeting individuals on British soil.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has previously warned that Iran would exploit Britain’s open borders.
Speaking earlier this year, he said a source within the Iranian-Persian community had told him that Iranian operatives were already crossing the English Channel in small boats.
“To put that in simple terms, we are importing terrorists into our country from across the English Channel,” Farage said.
Labour’s own MPs shouted “shame on you” when I warned about Iran.
The truth is, it’s shame on them.
They are endangering British lives by letting terrorists in. pic.twitter.com/hylD1Mmt7m
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) July 25, 2026
The report is likely to heap further pressure on the government of new Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has repeatedly made clear he has no real intention of stopping the small boats.
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