Iran is stepping up attempts to attack military facilities in the United Kingdom, while Russia is intensifying its hybrid war against Ukraine’s allies.
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said this in his annual speech on security threats, Reuters reported.
According to the head of MI5, state threats have quadrupled over the past decade, so his agency is now devoting more resources to countering them than it did during the Cold War.
McCallum noted that this year there has been a significant shift in Tehran’s ambitions to strike more complex targets, including military sites. In the past year alone, Iran-linked operations have led to more than 50 arrests in Britain. Prime Minister Andy Burnham previously said there was a high likelihood Iran was involved in an attempted attack on RAF Fairford airbase, which is used by US bombers. As a result of the incident, the United States temporarily withdrew its aircraft from the base.
Tehran has traditionally denied accusations of hostile activity on British soil. Asked about Iran’s ability to carry out more sophisticated attacks, including using kamikaze drones, the head of MI5 stressed that Iranian capabilities are limited by the level of the criminal gangs and intermediaries they hire to carry out tasks in Britain.
Despite Russia’s denials of involvement in hostile actions in the West, McCallum called Russia the number one aggressor. He emphasised that Moscow is actively employing hybrid warfare tactics that are on the brink of open armed conflict. As examples, he cited an attempted drone attack on a cargo aircraft at a German airport and a cyberattack on Poland’s energy infrastructure. The head of MI5 explained such actions as an attempt by the Russians to destabilise European countries against the backdrop of their army’s minimal and extremely costly advance in Ukraine.
The head of counter-intelligence also paid particular attention to risks associated with artificial intelligence. He said AI is intensifying confrontation in cyberspace, and terrorists are using it for reconnaissance and attack planning. However, the greatest concern is the potential of artificial intelligence in the development of biological weapons or the creation of new pathogens, posing real threats to international security.