Former head of the MI6 until last year Sir Richard Moore said the Iranian regime is weaker after the damage of its proxies abroad and the ’12-day war’ in 2025
Iran’s regime is weaker but its capacity for cruelty and repression has not gone away after a brutal crackdown on protests across the country, the ex-MI6 chief has said.
The comments from Sir Richard Moore – who led the UK’s secret intelligence service until last year – came as hundreds of people have reportedly been killed and thousands detained in the uprising against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule.
Sir Richard said of the protests: “I think what’s significant about it is the geographical reach of it, to every part of Tehran, the fact it’s drawn in people from all walks of life. That it was driven initially by economic factors, and that is because this regime has no answers for its people in the economic sphere.
“The difference this time – perhaps – is the government this time is weaker. It’s weaker because its track record for incompetence and economic mismanagement has gone that much further. And of course critically because of the events of the so-called 12 day war. It’s been weakened internationally – the loss of its proxies, or the damaging of its proxies around the region. For all those reasons, they are weaker. But their capacity for cruelty and repression… has not gone away. And they will try and crush this.”
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US President Donald Trump said on Sunday night that “Iran wants to negotiate” after he threatened action following the crackdown, but did not rule out a response. “I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” he told reporters after saying Iran had proposed negotiations and his administration was in talks about a meeting.
Asked about the impact of US involvement, the former Mi6 boss Sir Richard said it was “very difficult to predict” – but said: “Iranians must decide their own future. Therefore any kind of intervention or support to these brave men and women on the streets needs to be carefully calibrated in a way that will support them and not rebound on them – and that’s not easy to judge.”
On Monday there were reports Keir Starmer is being urged to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation. Sir Richard said the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, will have to make an assessment on the intelligence she is provided.
But he added: “I would just caution it won’t have a practical effect. It has symbolic impact. But the danger is something like that is mostly about us feeling better about ourselves. It’s not actually something that will have an impact on the IRGC, precisely because that instrument [proscription] is designed for non-state terror groups.
“Not for parts of the state. The IRGC is a very bad organisation that does very bad things, it’s just not whether or not this is the right instrument to try and tackle it with.”
Earlier the UK Cabinet minister Peter Kyle said the government has “already used the sanctions against Iran to the full extent we can”. The Business Secretary told Times Radio: “When you look at domestic terror legislation, the way that we proscribe domestic organisations is using domestic legislation.
“The independent reviewer has said that that isn’t appropriate used for state bodies, but we are looking very closely at these issues. It is no question and I don’t think anybody would question the fact that this Government cares very deeply about civilians and people in Iran. We will do everything we can, but when we use domestic legislation we need to make sure that it’s appropriate use of it.”
Asked whether he was ruling out a ban on the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) or whether there could be some kind of ban but not via domestic legislation, he said “no,” adding: “We’ve already used the sanctions against Iran to the full extent we can.” He added that Mr Starmer was working with international partners to see how “we can bring international pressure to bear” on Iran.