Elite soldiers from the Special Air Service are ‘very likely’ to have joined counter-terror cops and MI5 in foiling a ‘major terror attack’ against Britain, experts have said.
Teams raided two suspected Iranian terror cells in a ‘highly significant’ operation to tackle growing activity by the hostile state in the UK.
Sources said the alleged plot to target a UK premises was a ‘major attack’ that could have led to an imminent threat to life.
Speculation mounted on Sunday evening the suspected terror group was looking to hit a synagogue or another target linked to the Jewish community.
It is believed members of the SAS’s specialist counter-terror team – dubbed the ‘special projects’ unit – supported armed officers in the raids.
A former British spymaster added that given the alleged threat posed by the radicals – who were reportedly hours away from staging an attack – it was ‘distinctly possible’ the British military played a supporting role in raids.
The Ministry of Defence will never comment about special forces operations.
However, one former SAS operator told MailOnline it was likely a squad from the fearsome ‘Who Dares Wins’ regiment may have been involved in storming a property in Rochdale alongside counter-terror cops.
Soldiers would likely have been armed with explosives to blow open doors, with police supporting the operation, the expert said.
Pictures from the scene show men wearing military helmets and body armour, carrying what are believed to be suppressed C8 rifles – which are used by the SAS.
On Sunday, residents described how around 30 armed police supported by Special Forces burst into a terraced property in Rochdale on Saturday at around 7pm. Neighbours captured the moment on camera as a 40-year-old Iranian was dragged outside in just his underpants
It’s believed the officers in black uniforms are specialists from counter-terrorism police. They are thought to have been supported by members of the SAS
Officers are seen detaining one suspect while another officer covers the window of a building
Police and MI5 have foiled a suspected plot by Iranian terrorists to carry out a major attack in Britain. Counter-terror officers and Special Forces raided two suspected Iranian cells in a ‘highly significant’ operation to tackle growing activity by the hostile state in the UK. Pictured: Plain-clothed cops searched one of the suspects in Swindon town centre
Other images show a number of officers wearing black and grey tactical kit. It’s believed these are highly training counter terrorism specialist firearms officers.
In a second dramatic picture, plain-clothed officers were seen detaining a man in Swindon town centre. The former SAS veteran said these were likely counter-terror cops and not members of the special forces.
Colonel Philip Ingram, who served in British military intelligence, said troopers from the SAS and its sister unit the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) may have been used in the strike operation, with locations across the UK hit simultaneously.
‘It’s distinctly possible that – with this given a national level of threat and with hostile state links – there could be SRR troops from a surveillance perspective and they could have brought in special forces operatives as a backup team for counter terror police,’ Col Ingram claimed.
‘There’s a strong possibility given the multifaceted nature of the threat that counter terror could have been working with UK special forces.
Col Ingram said it was ‘rare’ for the military to be involved in supporting police operations but not unprecedented.
Soldiers of the SRR have previously been linked to a police operation in London in 2005, which led to the shooting of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.
Mr de Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician, was followed and shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder at Stockwell Underground station by two police marksman who mistook him for a suicide bomber.
The shooting came just weeks after the July 7 suicide bombings in London.
Counter terrorism specialist firearms officers, thought to be dressed in black and grey tactical gear, are seen detaining a suspect in Rochdale over the weekend
Police were yesterday questioning four men ‘on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act’ after co-ordinated raids on addresses in west London, Rochdale, Swindon, Manchester and Stockport on Saturday evening. Pictured: Police in Rochdale following the counter terrorism raid
Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by armed police in July 2005 after they mistook him for a terrorist. It was reported members of the SRR provided support to Scotland Yard following the July 7 bombings days earlier
Although officially the SRR was not ‘deployed’ that day, its troops allegedly provided ‘technical support’ for Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist operation, the Observer reported.
Counter-terrorism police routinely train alongside members of the special forces, working on elite tactics to storm buildings. They are also kitted out with military-style weaponry.
Speaking last night of the latest security operation, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the arrests on Saturday ‘reflect some of the biggest counter-state threat and counter-terrorism operations we have seen in recent years’.
Asked about possible links to the Iranian state, she said: ‘These are major operations and the ongoing investigation is immensely important, and, of course, it involves Iranian nationals in both investigations. But this reflects the complexity of the kinds of challenges to our national security we continue to face.’
The arrests came just days ahead of commemorative events in London to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, although sources stressed that they were not the intended target.
Police were last night questioning four men ‘on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act’ after co-ordinated raids on addresses in west London, Rochdale, Swindon, Manchester and Stockport on Saturday evening.
Hours earlier, counter-terrorism police had disrupted an alleged Iranian spy cell in London in a separate operation, arresting three men suspected of carrying out espionage activity for Iran. It was feared that news of police thwarting a suspected Iranian terror cell could spook others suspected of working for the enemy state in the UK.
The suspected plot was hours away from taking place, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Sources said the alleged plot to target a UK premises was a ‘major attack’ that could have led to an imminent threat to life. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (pictured) said this evening that the arrests on Saturday ‘reflect some of the biggest counter-state threat and counter-terrorism operations we have seen in recent years’
Sir Ken McCallum, head of MI5, recently warned that Iran was plotting attacks at ‘an unprecedented pace and scale’, and said there was a risk that Iranian state aggression could ‘broaden’ due to conflict in the Middle East.
The dual counter-terrorism operations will send a powerful message to Iran, which is said to have backed 20 plots posing a potentially lethal threat to journalists and dissidents living in Britain since January 2022.
In the past year, MI5 investigations into hostile-state threats have risen by almost 50 per cent following a surge in assassination, kidnap, arson and sabotage plots.
In October, Sir Ken warned: ‘We’ve seen plot after plot here.’ Iran uses criminal proxies, from international drug traffickers to ‘low-level crooks’, to carry out its ‘dirty work’ in the UK, he added.
Warning those who collaborate with hostile states, the spymaster said: ‘If you take money from Iran, Russia or any other state to carry out illegal acts in the UK you will bring the full weight of the national security apparatus down on you. It’s a choice you’ll regret.’
Yesterday, residents described how around 30 armed police supported by Special Forces burst into a terraced property in Rochdale on Saturday at around 7pm.
Neighbours captured the moment on camera as a 40-year-old Iranian was dragged outside in just his underpants.
Pictured: Police forensic officers search a house on May 04, 2025 in Rochdale, England, following a counter terrorism raid
Neighbour Amy Openshaw said: ‘The children were out in the garden and they came running in saying there’s men with helmets, masks and guns outside.
‘I heard a massive bang – either a flash bang or them blowing the door off.
‘I heard lots of screaming. Then the guy got taken out with hardly anything on. I could hear them saying, ‘Get on that floor’.
‘They had him on his knees.’
She said the suspect – who is said to have been staying in a house owned by a couple who live overseas– had rarely been seen before, adding: ‘He was quite quiet. I never saw any lights on or much activity going on.’
Lois, another resident, said: ‘There was a massive explosion and flame. It was officers using explosives to blow open the door.’
Elsewhere, police arrested three other Iranians – a 29-year-old was held in Swindon town centre, a 46-year-old was arrested in west London and a 29-year-old was held in Stockport on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act, contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.
A fifth man, held in Cheadle Hulme, Manchester, whose nationality was not known last night, was detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.
Commander Dominic Murphy (pictured), head of the Met’s Counter-Terrorism Command, said: ‘This is a fast-moving investigation… still in its early stages’
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter-Terrorism Command, said: ‘This is a fast-moving investigation… still in its early stages.’
The earlier arrests in north-west and west London of three alleged spies aged 39, 44, and 55 was the first time Iranian suspects have been held in the UK under a new espionage law, the National Security Act, designed to target those working secretly in the UK for hostile states.
Those raids are said to be separate to the alleged terror plot against a specific premises, which is not being named for ‘operational reasons’.
The threat from Iran: a ruthless regime suspected of orchestrating terror attacks on UK soil
By Andy Jehring
Iran has become a growing menace on the streets of Britain, with its agents suspected of orchestrating a spate of attacks on UK soil.
MI5 chief Ken McCallum disclosed last October that his operatives have tackled 20 ‘potentially lethal’ plots backed by Tehran since 2022 – mostly aimed at dissidents opposing the regime.
Iranians Navid Bavi and Bahar Mahroo were attacked outside the Dewan Al-Kafeel community centre in Wembley, north-west London, in May last year.
They were protesting a memorial service for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi when masked thugs emerged from the building and assaulted them. Bavi was left partially paralysed while Mahroo reported being sexually assaulted. They had to be protected by police in hospital.
Just a few months earlier, Iranian-British journalist Pouria Zeraati had been stabbed outside his home in Wimbledon, south-west London, on March 29.
He was walking to his car to head to work at Iran International’s London studio when a man approached him asking for change. He said he had none when a second appeared and together they grabbed him. The first man stabbed him in the leg but he managed to flee.
Scotland Yard’s counter-terror unit were called in, given the Persian-language station is constantly threatened for its criticism of the regime in Tehran.
Zeraati had previously reported on threats against employees, including family members in Iran being questioned to pressure journalists.
Iran has been suspected of orchestrating attacks on British soil (pictured: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addressing the public at a event held in Tehran today)
MI5 chief Ken McCallum said his operatives have tackled 20 ‘potentially lethal’ plots backed by Tehran since 2022
Iranian-British journalist Pouria Zeraati was stabbed outside his home in south-west London
Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev was convicted of attempting to collect information likely to be useful for terrorism
Romanian nationals Nandito Badea, 19, and George Stana, 23, were arrested in their home country in December over the attack. Extradition proceedings are under way.
Chechen-born Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev was jailed for spying on Iran International’s headquarters in Chiswick, west London, in February 2023. The Austrian citizen was convicted of attempting to collect information likely to be useful for terrorism.
Dovtaev, 32, flew into Gatwick from Vienna and took a cab to the TV channel’s base, where he was spotted by security guards who alerted the police. Examination of his phone suggested he was recording the security arrangements as he walked by.
His visit was said to be the most recent in a series by ‘others unknown’, who had also taken videos, beginning in the summer of 2022. Dovtaev was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
