We must stand up to Iran before it fuels a global crisis

This week we saw what happens when your enemies are emboldened by overcaution. In April Iran launched an attack against with more than 300 ballistic missiles, drones and cruise missiles. was told to “bank the win”.

But the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a fundamentalist wing of the Islamic Republic’s military, have come back for more.

They have been disturbed by ’s legitimate attacks on their terrorist proxies of Hamas and, most notably, Hezbollah, an aggressor who has fired almost 9,000 rockets at since October 8 last year.

To respond, the IRGC fired 180 missiles at , hitting some military targets, and proudly claimed responsibility as retaliation for the death of terrorists.

The IRGC is a malign influence in the Middle East and around the globe.

For 41 years I served in the British Navy. Alongside our allies, we faced down threats as part of NATO bloc of countries locked in conflict with the Soviet Union.

Since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, other enemies have come to the fore.

I watched, during my years of service, as the ayatollahs took control of Iran and first began to terrorise their near-neighbours. They formed Hezbollah in Lebanon, a terrorist group with the express purpose of destroying the state of .

They also targeted our forces and allies in the Persian Gulf, even illegally seizing Royal Navy vessels and taking British sailors prisoner.

Hezbollah was allowed to grow, and menace with attack after attack, frequently from south of the Litani River, in flagrant breach of UN Resolution 1701 to demilitarise the area.

Following Hamas’s devastating attack on last year, Hezbollah joined the fray with renewed vigour from the north.

More than 60,00 Israelis have been evacuated from towns near the northern border that are as a result currently uninhabitable.

Hezbollah has been hit hard in recent weeks, but they remain a powerful terrorist organisation. Likely the strongest in the world.

And crucially, behind Hezbollah’s power, is the IRGC which finances these terrorists.

The IRGC is the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism. In the waters around Iran and the Gulf of Aden, crucial for the supply of goods and food to Europe, the IRGC threatens our shipping, either with their own navy or by bankrolling Houthi rebels in Yemen to fire rockets.

The IRGC’s budget is £5billion annually – three times that of the regular Iranian armed forces. They are directly controlled by Iran’s religious leader Ali Khamenei.

Their terrorist armies in the Middle East surround and threaten its very existence.

They seek to sow division on the streets of Britain or carry out attacks on Iranian dissidents across the globe. And they support our enemies against allies.

Meanwhile, the regime continues to progress towards its stated aim of building a nuclear bomb, with firmly in the ayatollahs’ cross-hairs.

Last month we read reports that the Iranians had sent 200 ballistic missiles to ’s , so they could bomb our friends in .

This comes after years of the IRGC supplying their attack and kamikaze drones to Putin’s army.

As a favour in return, our Governments fear the Russians are sharing nuclear secrets with Iran.

It’s clear, therefore, we are facing enemies who are coalescing together.

But they have also made mistakes. is bogged down in , after we used our collective might with America in the lead, to stall their advance on Kyiv.

This week, and earlier this year, we joined with partners to protect our ally against huge rocket attacks from Iran.

And so now we have an opportunity. An opportunity to apply pressure against the Iranian regime, which brutally suppresses its own people, and break the historic country of Iran away from this axis of autocracies, including China and .

To allow and China to strengthen their Iranian attack dog, and even ensure the regime can build a nuclear bomb, will only store up far bigger troubles for us to face in the future.

A nuclear Iran could leverage its power across the Middle East to protect its proxies with a nuclear umbrella, and increasingly threaten world order.

It’s why we must seek to stop Iran in its tracks now.

At the heart of the regime’s mission is the IRGC. It is, therefore, high time we proscribed this organisation, and designated them as terrorists, as have some of our closest allies in the US and Middle East.

In opposition my party quite rightly supported the proscription, or ban, of the IRGC.

This ban would allow us more tightly to control those groups in the UK which are linked to these sponsors of terror.

And it will send a message, loud and clear, that the IRGC’s actions have consequences. That we won’t sit idly by and allow them to terrorise the world.

I sincerely hope we don’t falter in the face of pressure, and that we follow through on this pledge to ban this organisation.

Not to do so would threaten our security. It would show weakness. And weakness begets war.

● Lord West was First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff from 2002 to 2006 and Security Minister from 2007 to 2010.