The head of Scotland Yard warned on Monday night of the ‘grave’ threat from Iran as he deployed hundreds of extra officers to protect the Jewish community after a firebomb attack.
In the ‘sickening’ raid on a Jewish volunteer service, three hooded men were caught on CCTV setting fire to four ambulances parked outside a synagogue in north-west London in the early hours of Monday.
The incident in Golders Green is being treated as an anti-Semitic hate crime, but the Metropolitan Police‘s counter-terrorism unit is also investigating amid suspicions that Tehran is behind it.
Chilling footage showed the three hooded figures pouring accelerant on the vehicles, which belong to Jewish community ambulance service Hatzola, setting them ablaze before running away.
Oxygen gas canisters within the ambulances exploded at around 1.45am, blowing out the windows of the synagogue and several nearby homes.
Residents were evacuated as a precaution, but no one was hurt in the attack on the service established in 1979 to provide free medical transport and emergency response to those living in north London.
On Monday, counter-terrorism officers were trawling through CCTV footage to establish where the trio fled in the hope of identifying those responsible.
Within hours, a video was posted on Telegram by an Islamist group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, showing a map of the location and footage of the fire.
Three of the community ambulances were left in pieces and burned out after fires triggered explosions inside the vehicles
Four ambulances were set on fire in the Jewish community of Golders Green in London on Monday
On Monday night, Scotland Yard Commissioner Mark Rowley warned: ‘The rapid growth in recent years of Iranian state threats is grave: hostile state surveillance activity, 20 disrupted plots and recent attempted attacks on the Iranian diaspora. None of this is isolated – it is part of a rapidly shifting threat landscape.
‘It is too early for me to attribute the attack in Golders Green to the Iranian state – that is rightly for the counter-terrorism investigation to determine – but whoever was responsible, the impact is serious.’
Sir Mark was speaking at an annual dinner of the Community Security Trust – a charity providing protection for the Jewish community.
He said: ‘We are pursuing all lines of enquiry, including an online claim of responsibility by an Islamist group who have claimed other attacks across Europe and have potential Iranian state links.’
He said that the quick local response to the attack had saved lives, adding: ‘An attack on Hatzola is not only an attack on the Jewish community but on all of us. There is no “us and them”. There is only an attack on a British community.’
The Home Secretary warned of a dangerous rise in anti-Semitism in Britain, describing the firebombing as an ‘attack on this country and on us all’.
Shabana Mahmood spoke of ‘the oldest hatred rising once more’, suggesting Jewish people in the UK were now living in constant fear of attack.
The Met are now stepping up firearms patrols to protect the Jewish community, sending an additional 264 officers to work alongside existing neighbourhood police deployed to ‘vulnerable locations’.
Three hooded suspects were seen approaching the emergency vehicles before they were set alight
Around 40 firefighters were called after multiple cylinders on the vehicles exploded, blowing out the windows of the synagogue and several nearby homes
The force will also be utilising drones, and Sir Mark announced a strengthened protective security plan for Jewish schools, synagogues and community centres ahead of Passover.
Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said it was a ‘priority’ to verify the claims made by the Islamist group that it was responsible.
It came to prominence after claiming responsibility for anti-Semitic attacks across Europe, which were similarly carried out under the cover of darkness, between March 9-13.
The group, which translates as ‘Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right’, claimed it had carried out an explosive attack at a synagogue in Liege, in Belgium, an arson attack on a Rotterdam synagogue and set off a device at a Jewish school in Amsterdam.
Now the group has spoken of ‘targeting the most prominent Zionist centres in London’.
Joe Truzman, a security analyst for the Foundation For Defence Of Democracies, said: ‘My suspicion is we are observing an Iran-crafted front, meaning this is an organisation created by Iran, perhaps the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to carry out attacks against Jewish institutions. I suspect Iran is outsourcing these attacks to criminal organisations.’
Israel’s ministry for diaspora affairs and combating anti-Semitism said the group had suspected links to pro-Iranian networks.
Police have recently seen a surge in threats from Iran and its criminal proxies.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who visited the scene, said it was ‘a particularly sickening assault’
Last week the alleged ringleaders of a separate Tehran-led plot to spy on the Jewish community in London were charged by police.
In October two worshippers were killed in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester.
The Home Secretary added last night: ‘To target Hatzola, an institution devoted to saving lives… is so warped it defies words.
‘Today, Jews in this country are being forced to live a smaller life: they are hiding the signs of their faith.
‘They are fearful as they send their children to school. Even when they attend a hospital appointment. They attend synagogues that require security.
‘History has repeatedly screamed its warning at us. And yet, here we are again, in 2026, with the oldest hatred rising once more.’
Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed his ‘disgust at the horrific anti-Semitic attack’.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said it was ‘a particularly sickening assault’.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting was heckled as he visited the scene. He said the Government would fund the replacement of the ambulances.
