Iran is considered behind only Russia and China as the greatest threat to Britain’s security from a state actor among senior players in MI5 and MI6. With the seizure of the British flagged Stena Impero oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, fears Tehran funded terror cells across Europe could be given the all-clear have intensified. The Daily Telegraph reported the cells are linked to Hezbollah, a Lebanese based political party and militant group, which is active in the Syrian Civil War.

It has been reported counter-terrorism police disrupted a cell in 2015 that was stockpiling tonnes of explosives.

Sources believe the cell was prepared to cause “a lot of damage” with “proper organised terrorism”.

An intelligence source said: “Iran uses proxies and they have control of a network of individuals linked to Hezbollah.

“Iran has Hezbollah operatives in position to carry out a terrorist attack in the event of a conflict. That is the nature of the domestic threat Iran poses to the UK.”

Tehran has been blamed for cyberattacks in the UK, one on MPs in 2017 and another on Post Office, local government and private sector emails at the end of last year.

The Department of Transport have claimed the Steno Impero was in Omani waters when it was seized before being re-routed by Revolutionary Guard special forces and produced naval charts to support this claim.

The British Government described the incident, a response to the seizure of Panamanian flagged Grace I in Gibraltar, as “illegal” and wrote in a letter to the UN Security Council: “Current tensions are extremely concerning, and our priority is to de-escalate. We do not seek confrontation with Iran. But it is unacceptable and highly escalatory to threaten shipping going about its legitimate business through internationally recognised transit corridors.”

The Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Adel Aljubeir tweeted last night: “Iran must realise that its acts of intercepting ships, including most recently the British ship, are completely unacceptable. The world community must take actions to deter such behaviour.”

Theresa May will chair an emergency COBRA meeting at 10.30am on Monday morning in response to the crisis.

A COBRA meeting was held after an incident involving Iran in 1980.

Members of the Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan, calling for independence for the Khuzestan Province in Iran, which has a high proportion of native Arabic speakers sieged the Iranian embassy in South Kensington.

After a six-day siege, five of the hostage-takers were killed and one captured with one of the 26 hostages killed and a further two plus an SAS soldier wounded.

Tobias Ellwood, current Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Veterans and formerly responsible for the Middle East, Africa and Counter-Terrorism in the Foreign Office, has warned the Royal Navy is not big enough to deal with the threat on British shipping from Iran.

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