Twenty-two countries tell Iran to stop attacking people ‘on our soil’

INTERNATIONAL – ASIA

12 JUNE 2026

• Twenty-two countries, including the United States and European nations, jointly warned Iran to stop attacking people “on our soil”.
• Iran’s security services were condemned for their “deplorable” use of international and local criminal gangs for plots in Europe, North America, and Australia.
• “Attempts to kill, kidnap, harass, intimidate, or otherwise attack people on our soil, undermines national sovereignty and international norms. These actions must stop immediately,” the countries said in a joint statement.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence services and its foreign operations branch, the Quds Force, had engaged in “lethal plotting and malign actions” against Iranian dissidents, journalists and Jewish and Israeli communities and interests, they said.
• The statement was issued by Albania, Australia, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United States.

Attacks in Europe

The countries also accused Iran of being behind a campaign of attacks across Europe targeting Jewish communities, Iranian journalists and U.S. journalists that were claimed by Iran-linked group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI).

• The group, whose name means The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, has claimed responsibility for attacks targeting Jewish communities in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Attacks in Australia

• In November, Australia designated the Revolutionary Guards as a state sponsor of terrorism, describing its alleged attacks in Australia as “unprecedented and dangerous acts of aggression”.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)

• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the most powerful branch of the Iranian Armed Forces.
• Created in 1979 to protect the Islamic revolution, it has morphed from a military faction into a vast economic, political, and security empire that answers directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader.
• The IRGC operates independent of Iran’s regular army and has become the de facto dominant force in the country’s power structure.