Britain Faces Bigger Threats From Russia, Iran Including Terrorists

UNSPLASH/Mark Stuckey ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Britain faces growing threats from enemy countries such as Russia, Iran, and China. Meanwhile, the risk of terrorism is "very large" with al-Qaeda and ISIS trying to incite potential attackers.

MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum said there was an increase of 35% in the number of people being investigated for state threat activities.

According to him, enemy countries consistently fall into the "bad" method commonly used by terrorists.

McCallum said his agency had thwarted "a series of hostile intent surveillance plans" from Russia and had tracked more than 20 deadly plans supported by Iran.

"In 2025, MI5 faces greater and more threat from terrorists and state actors than I have ever seen," he said in his annual speech at the MI5 headquarters in London.

Britain has repeatedly spoken about acts of hostility that it says Russia, Iran, and China have all denied the accusations leveled against them.

Earlier this year, six Bulgarians were jailed for spying for Russia by conducting surveillance on behalf of Russia, while five people were also convicted of carrying out arson attacks on businesses linked to Ukraine in London, which British officials said were ordered by a group of Russian Wagner mercenaries.

"Together with our partners across Europe, MI5 will continue to detect those who receive orders from Russian thugs," McCallum said.

"And we will continue to track their tracks to the orderer, who envisions themselves being anonymous and off-trace behind the scenes. Even though they are not," he continued.

McCallum said China was guilty of cyber espionage, captivated academics to China, quietly interfered with Britain's public life, and abused pro-democracy dissidents in Britain.

Regarding Iran, McCallum said Tehran was "pankingly" trying to silence its critics around the world, citing how Australia exposed Iran's involvement in its antisemitism plot and Dutch authorities had uncovered failed assassination attempts.

He also said the terrorist threat to Britain remained "big" with MI5 and the police thwarted 19 plots of late-stage attacks since early 2020.

"Al Qaeda and ISIS are once again becoming more ambitious, taking advantage of instability abroad to gain a stronger foothold," he said.