UK summons Iranian envoy over embassy’s call for Brits to join ‘martyrdom’ program

Britain says the Iranian ambassador to the UK has been summoned in response to what the government describes as the Iranian embassy’s “unacceptable and inflammatory” comments on social media.

Britain’s minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, has made clear that the embassy “must cease any form of communications that could be interpreted as encouraging violence in the UK or internationally,” the foreign office statement says.

Iran’s embassy in London has allegedly urged British-based Iranians to sign up for a controversial “martyrdom” program, according to a report today by the Daily Mail, prompting concern among security experts.

The embassy’s official Telegram channel has called on “proud Iranian compatriots residing in Britain” to register for the “Jan Fada” (“sacrificing life”) initiative, inviting those with a “desire for the people’s defense of the land of Iran” to come forward. A message in Persian from April 15 reads, “Let us all, to a man, give our bodies to be slain; for it is better than giving our country to the enemy.”

The campaign, launched last month, directs participants to register through the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s consular platform.