Iran accused of smuggling spies into Britain as small boat migrants crossing the English Channel

Iran has been accused of smuggling intelligence agents into Britain by disguising them as asylum seekers on small boats crossing the English Channel. UK authorities are reported to have used facial recognition technology, mounted on drones and surveillance watchtowers, to identify individuals with links to Tehran's intelligence services among migrants arriving by this route, raising concerns about the exploitation of Channel crossings for espionage purposes.

It is understood that the smuggling routes used to bring migrants across are controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), suggesting a degree of state involvement in the trafficking networks. The Daily Mail previously reported in March that asylum seekers claiming to flee the war in Iran had reached the Loon-Plage migrant camp near Dunkirk in France via Turkey, and Oxford University's Migration Observatory has noted that Iranians make up the largest single nationality among asylum seekers arriving in the UK.