Police investigate Iran link in London firebombings targeting Jewish community

Counter-terrorism police are investigating whether Iran may be behind a series of firebomb attacks targeting the Jewish community in London, Daily Mail reports.

Experts fear that criminal proxies may have carried out three separate arson attacks on behalf of a foreign state, including an attack on an ambulance service serving the Jewish community last month, a synagogue in Finchley, and the headquarters of a Persian-language TV station in Wembley on Wednesday.

Detectives said they are “keeping an open mind” when asked whether Iran-backed groups were responsible for the firebombings.

A senior officer has since issued a warning to anyone considering taking payment from a hostile state to carry out attacks in the UK. Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Matt Jukes, spoke after it emerged that two teenagers were among those arrested over an alleged attack on the offices of Volant Media, the parent company of Persian news channel Iran International, at around 8.30pm on Wednesday.

Armed officers pursued suspects in an SUV, which later crashed. Three males aged 16, 19, and 21 were subsequently arrested on suspicion of arson endangering life.

Earlier, an attempted arson attack took place at a synagogue in Finchley at around 12.10am, resulting in the arrest of a 47-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man on suspicion of arson endangering life.

The incidents follow a similar pattern to the firebombing of a volunteer-run ambulance service operated by the Jewish community in Golders Green last month. Three hooded men were captured on CCTV setting fire to four ambulances parked outside a synagogue in north-west London on March 23.

When asked whether the attacks may have been ordered by Iran, Vicki Evans, senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said: “We are open-minded and all lines inquiry are open at this stage.”

While all three incidents are being treated as separate attacks, investigators say the similarity in methods and targets has raised suspicions of possible coordination linked to a hostile state. Police are also examining claims of responsibility by the Iran-linked Islamist group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia.

The group, which has claimed other attacks across Europe since the war in Iran broke out, posted videos on Telegram on Wednesday about the two latest incidents.

Deputy Commissioner Jukes issued a stark warning to those acting as criminal proxies. “We know that some individuals are being persuaded or paid to act on behalf of foreign organisations and states.

“If you act out of hatred, racism or antisemitism, we will come after you and you will face the consequences.”

He added that Britain was experiencing a period in which “foreign interference impacts the streets of London” and individuals were being paid to “drive wedges in our community.”

“For the people who think you can make quick and easy money by committing crimes for others, we will show that they are fools. We will show that they are wrong and they will face consequences,” he said.

“Those who have paid for it will drop them like a stone, and they'll face justice on their own.”

By Vafa Guliyeva