Iran's Escalating Campaign
In his annual address on Tuesday, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said Iran is increasingly attempting to strike harder targets in Britain, such as military installations. He noted that state threats have quadrupled over the past decade, and MI5 now allocates more resources to countering them than it did during the Cold War. McCallum also linked Iran to more than 50 arrests in the past year.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S8]
The remarks followed an announcement by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham that Tehran was "highly likely" responsible for an alleged scheme targeting RAF Fairford, a base from which US bombers launch strikes on Iran. The episode set off a security alert and prompted US President Trump to pull aircraft away from the site. Iran has rejected any role in the Fairford matter or other hostile acts in Britain, where officials have for years accused it of targeting dissidents as well as Israeli and Jewish sites.[S1][S7]
McCallum declined to comment on the Fairford investigation but said the incident is not unique, pointing to other examples globally. He added that Iran's capability for complex attacks in Britain is limited by the sophistication of the criminals and proxies it uses, though the IRGC has deeper experience with hybrid tactics closer to its homeland.[S1]
Russia's Hybrid Warfare and AI Risks
McCallum singled out Russia as the leading threat, pointing to an attempted drone strike on a cargo aircraft at a German airport and a cyber operation against Polish energy infrastructure. According to him, Moscow's goal is to destabilize European home fronts even as its battlefield gains in Ukraine stay limited and come at heavy cost. Russia has rejected Germany's claims regarding the Leipzig/Halle Airport episode, calling them completely invented.[S1]
On artificial intelligence, McCallum warned that the technology is supercharging the cybersecurity contest and that terrorists are exploiting it for reconnaissance and attack planning. His greatest concern is AI's potential to alter the stakes on existing or new bioweapons, an area he said MI5 is particularly focused on. He stressed that these risks are real.[S1][S8]
