An Iran-aligned militant network has claimed responsibility for the arson attack on Jewish ambulances in north London early Monday, a monitoring organisation said, linking the incident to a string of similar fires across Europe.
The SITE Intelligence monitoring service said a group calling itself the Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand had carried out the attack near a synagogue in Golders Green, adding it had also been behind fires in Belgium, Greece and the Netherlands.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the incident as “a deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack,” adding: “My thoughts are with the Jewish community who are waking up this morning to this horrific news. Antisemitism has no place in our society.”
Police said four ambulances operated by the Hatzola volunteer emergency service were set ablaze shortly after 01:30 GMT, triggering explosions from gas cylinders onboard and damaging nearby residential buildings.
No injuries were reported, though dozens of residents were evacuated as a precaution after windows in a nearby apartment block were shattered.
Police search for suspects
The Metropolitan Police said officers were examining CCTV footage and searching for three suspects seen approaching the vehicles before the fire.
Fire crews deployed six engines and around 40 firefighters to contain the blaze, which was brought under control shortly after 03:00 GMT.
Religious leaders and officials condemned the targeting of an emergency medical service run by volunteers.
London mayor Sadiq Khan said police patrols would be increased in the area.
Israel’s embassy in Britain called for decisive action in response to the attack.
“Enough is enough,” the embassy said. “There must be a thorough investigation and decisive action to put an end to this climate of intimidation before it spirals further.”
Rising incidents since 2023
Antisemitic incidents have increased in Britain and globally since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the war in Gaza that followed.
British officials have recorded a sustained rise in such cases, including a deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester in 2025.
Starmer said earlier this month the government would work with Jewish and Muslim organisations to strengthen protections at sensitive sites.
Craig Foreman, speaking in a voice message recorded from Evin prison, said he and his wife Lindsay were facing worsening conditions more than three weeks into US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
“My name is Craig Foreman… We are both currently serving 14 months into a 10-year prison sentence… for crimes that were never committed,” Foreman said, adding that the case against them was built on “falsified evidence.”
The couple were sentenced in February after Iranian authorities accused them of spying for Britain and Israel, allegations they have consistently denied.
Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both in their 50s, were arrested in January 2025 while on a motorcycle trip through Iran.
“We are proud to be British, but by now we feel let down, alone, and completely frustrated by the lack of public defence,” Foreman said.
“You know we are innocent. Go public with the information you have to clearly step up, step out of the shadows and help us.”
Prison conditions deteriorate
Foreman described an increasingly dangerous environment inside Evin prison, where nearby explosions earlier in March shattered windows and forced detainees to take cover.
“We are now in a prison in a war zone. We have gone from a challenging situation to a life-threatening situation,” Foreman said. “Our lives are constantly at risk.”
He added that the couple had received “zero information” from British authorities about contingency plans if conditions worsen.
Family members echoed those concerns. Joe Bennett, Foreman’s stepson, said officials had avoided publicly asserting the couple’s innocence despite being aware of the circumstances of their case.
“They are not spies, and our government knows that,” Bennett said, describing worsening physical and psychological conditions in detention.
Government response
Britain’s foreign ministry has previously called the sentences “totally unjustifiable” and said supporting detained nationals remains a priority.
The case has drawn renewed attention as security conditions in Iran have deteriorated, with foreign nationals advised to leave and diplomatic staff periodically withdrawn.
Rights groups and Western governments have long accused Iran of engaging in so-called “hostage diplomacy” by detaining foreign nationals to gain political or economic concessions, an allegation Tehran rejects, saying it faces Western intelligence infiltration.
“The threat level from the Iranian government and its actors is assessed as very high, and we are on full alert,” a spokesperson for Germany’s Interior Ministry said in response to Iran International on Saturday.
Federal and state security agencies, the spokesperson said, have adjusted protective measures for Jewish communities and Israeli and Jewish institutions since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, strengthening them where necessary.
According to the ministry, German security bodies are continuously reassessing the threat environment, maintaining a heightened state of readiness, and adapting protective measures as needed.
Berlin flags transnational repression risks
German security agencies are in close coordination with each other, state authorities, and international partners, sharing intelligence on potential threats, the spokesperson said.
“There is also close cooperation between the federal government and the states on the issue of transnational repression,” the spokesperson added.
Monitoring, pressure, and targeting of opposition figures beyond national borders remain part of the activities of Iranian state actors, the spokesperson said.
Responding to threats by Iranian officials against Persian-language media, the spokesperson said the German government treats any activities by foreign state bodies or affiliated actors on its soil with utmost seriousness and does not tolerate them.
The Interior Ministry is working with security agencies and in coordination with the Foreign Ministry to counter transnational repression, according to the statement.
Shooting in Netherlands coincides with warning
The comments came as a 36-year-old Iranian man opposed to the Islamic Republic was shot and seriously wounded in the Netherlands on Thursday morning.
Information received by Iran International identified the man as Mohi Shafiei, a monarchist activist and a member of the Dutch police, who is currently hospitalized.
It remains unclear who carried out the attack.
Dutch prosecutors said “all possible scenarios” are being considered. The country’s justice minister said security measures had been taken in light of the officer’s background.
History of overseas targeting
The warning from Berlin comes after Mohsen Rafiqdoust, the first minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said in March 2025 in an interview with the Didban Iran website that he had overseen operations targeting opponents abroad in the years following the 1979 revolution.
German newspaper Welt also reported in December 2025 that Iranian intelligence services had expanded pressure tactics into Germany by threatening the families of Iranian migrants inside Iran, coercing some exiles into cooperation.
Messages sent to Iran International and posts on social media were divided over Wednesday’s strike on the South Pars gas field in southern Iran, with some welcoming the hit on state-linked assets and others warning of civilian costs.
US President Donald Trump said Israel had struck Iran’s South Pars gas field “out of anger” over developments in the Middle East, describing the damage as limited and warning there would be no further attacks unless Iran targeted Qatar again.
The strike marked a shift in a conflict that has spread across the Persian Gulf, disrupting energy flows after Iranian missiles targeted facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Strike seen as blow to state-linked networks
Some messages sent to Iran International framed the attack as a setback for institutions tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
“Israel, by hitting South Pars, saved us from more theft… the money was turned into bullets fired at our children,” one citizen wrote.
Another, who said he had worked on projects in the field, downplayed the long-term impact.
“Even with the complete destruction of all 24 gas refineries… they will return to production in less than three months,” he wrote, adding that supply lines from offshore platforms would shut automatically and protect reserves.
A separate message from an engineer challenged concerns about offshore facilities.
“The platforms are not even fully operational because of sanctions… after the Islamic Republic, they can be rebuilt better,” he wrote, contrasting them with higher-quality installations on the Qatari side.
Others shifted the focus away from infrastructure entirely.
“The main infrastructure was the young people they took from us… the rest can be rebuilt with better technology.”
Social media posts echoed that line in sharper language. “Don’t worry about infrastructure,” one post read. “What infrastructure are you talking about? What life was left that needed infrastructure?” it added.
Concerns over civilian impact
Other messages cautioned that strikes on energy infrastructure would translate directly into hardship for civilians.
“Don’t look at infrastructure so simply,” one user wrote. “Lack of electricity and gas means death – cold, hunger, medicine shortages.”
Another post rejected attacks on non-military targets. “Hitting Iran’s infrastructure by any side is condemnable. It belongs to all Iranians,” the message read.
Some called for limiting strikes strictly to military-linked targets. “Please just hit those responsible and leave non-military infrastructure alone.”
One message also questioned the timing. “Hitting South Pars at this moment is not the last and best solution,” it read.
Back to corruption and rebuilding
Even among those critical of the strike, some framed the debate through long-standing economic grievances.
“If infrastructure belonged to the people, no one would be searching in trash for food.”
Another argued that damaged facilities could ultimately be replaced. “That worn-out infrastructure… will be rebuilt better – but those lives won’t return,” the user wrote referring to thousands of people killed during the January protests.
Others pointed to historical reconstruction. “Germany and Japan were flattened in World War II – where are they now?” one user said.
Across the exchanges, a recurring thread linked both support for and opposition to the strike back to mistrust of the Islamic Republic, with many portraying the country’s energy wealth as mismanaged or diverted, and arguing that any future recovery depends less on infrastructure than on political change.
