U.K. police are investigating if Iranian proxies are behind recent attacks on Jewish sites

An arson attack caused smoke damage at a synagogue in North London overnight, just one day after a similar incident in the city and the third such occurence this week, British officials said Sunday. The Metropolitan Police said its counterterrorism officers are investigating if the spate of attacks are linked to Iranian proxies. 

The latest attack caused minor smoke damage to a room at Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, London, according to the Community Security Trust, which provides safety advice to Jewish groups. No injuries were reported. 

The Metropolitan Police said its officers noticed damage to the window of the building on Saturday night. Photos from Sunday morning show forensic officers and other law enforcement inspecting the cordoned-off scen. 

“On further inspection they saw smoke inside a room and evidence that a bottle with some sort of accelerant had been thrown through the window,” the department said in a statement. 

Late Friday, a building that formerly housed a Jewish charity was targeted in Hendon, a neighborhood in north London near Harrow. There were no injuries reported. 

On Wednesday, police arrested two people over an arson attack on a synagogue in nearby Finchley. In late March, four Jewish community ambulances were torched in Golders Green, also in north London. Police are also investigating an attack on a Persian-language media company.  

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans said a little-known group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, with links to Iran, has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks. The group previously claimed similar attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands. 

“We are aware of public reporting that suggests this group may have links to Iran. As you would expect, we will continue to explore that question as our investigation evolves,” she said.

“I’ve spoken previously about the Iranian regime’s use of criminal proxies, and we’re considering whether this tactic is being used here in London,” Evans added.

Officers have stepped up patrols in areas with large Jewish populations. The Community Security Trust has recorded 3,700 antisemitic incidents in the United Kingdom in 2025, the second-highest total ever reported to the organization. 

British chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis wrote on social media that the recent attacks show that a “sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community in the UK is gathering momentum.” 

“Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot, and must not, wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society,” Mirvis wrote. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the recent attcks. 

“This is abhorrent and it will not be tolerated. Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain,” Starmer said in a post on X. “We will not rest in the pursuit of perpetrators.”