Iran is plotting with the Taliban to hunt down British agents using a leaked database that exposed details of MI6 spies and UK Special Forces.
Officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards traveled to Kabul last week seeking ‘access’ to the bombshell list at the heart of a two-year super-injunction issue in the UK.
Earlier this month it was reported that Iran had begun efforts to get their hands on the highly sensitive list ‘so they can hunt down MI6 spies’.
It is now believed that four IRGC officials, reportedly traveling to Afghanistan without the involvement of Tehran’s civilian authorities, aim to capture British spies for use as ‘bargaining chips’ in discussions with the West about Iran’s contentious nuclear program, The Telegraph reported.
In return, the Taliban wish to be formally recognised by Iran as the official rulers of Afghanistan.
A senior Iranian source indicated the list was passed to them by the Taliban, saying: ‘The IRGC officials want to locate British spies before the ‘snapback’ to gain leverage over London in private negotiations.’
The potential collaboration between Iran’s hard-liners and the hostile Taliban regime to track down British agents has sparked ‘concern’ in Whitehall, as reported by the Daily Mail earlier this month.
A vital database of Afghans and UK officials putting 100,000 people ‘at risk of death’.
Iran is collaborating with the Taliban to target British agents using a compromised database that revealed information about MI6 operatives and UK Special Forces. Pictured: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards traveled to Kabul last week seeking ‘access’ to the bombshell list at the heart of a two-year super-injunction issue in the UK. Pictured: Taliban fighters
A soldier escorts a family at Stansted in May as part of a government scheme costed at £7billion smuggling migrants to Britain after a data-leak blunder exposed by the Daily Mail
When the Daily Mail discovered this data breach disaster in 2023, the Government secured a draconian court order to hush it up, triggering a 23-month battle in secret courts for open justice.
Last month the Government finally abandoned its super-injunction and the public discovered ministers had secretly agreed a £7billion scheme, including a mass evacuation programme to rescue thousands of Afghans who had worked for British forces.
Ministers ordered lawyers to gag the Daily Mail and others with a second High Court injunction, to prevent the media revealing how the lost list had included details of more than a hundred MI6 spies, Special Forces and other UK officials.
The so-called ‘kill list’ contains the names of 25,000 Afghans who were applying to a UK scheme to give sanctuary to those who had worked on the frontlines with British forces.
The Daily Mail has seen a copy of the full dataset lost by the British government, and it is understood it also includes details of more than 100 British officials including MI6, Special Forces and senior military commanders, as well as MPs.
Many of these were included to help officials verify legitimate claims.
Although codes are used, and the list does not specifically identify any spies or special forces, it could be a valuable dataset for an enemy.
It is understood that several people whose names appear on the list have been arrested in recent days by Iranian border forces.
The spectre of Iran’s extremists and the brutal Taliban regime co-ordinating efforts to hunt down British agents has been causing ‘concern’ in Whitehall. Pictured: IRGC members
Daily Mail journalists faced jail by order of a Penal Notice if they revealed the Government’s secret – or even breathed a word about the existence of the draconian court order
Many have been released soon after, with the ‘focus’ said to be on detaining ‘British spies’.
This week, Britain, France and Germany threatened Iran with a ‘snapback’ – the return of economic sanctions that were imposed before 2015 if nuclear talks did not begin again by the end of this month.
In 2015 a deal was struck between Iran and Western powers to curb its nuclear enrichment program in return for a lifting of banking and trade sanctions.
With this deal due to expire on October 18, the official added: ‘The IRGC is doing everything it can to find bargaining chips for talks before the deadline.’
Meanwhile a Taliban official told The Telegraph: ‘Some argued that we should not do any favours for the Iranians given how badly they are treating our refugees there, but if they were willing to recognise the Islamic Emirate [of Afghanistan] in return, that would not be a bad deal.’
The so-called ‘kill list’ was accidentally leaked in February 2022 when a British soldier emailed the complete file to Afghan contacts instead of sending a small extract.
A Government spokesman said: ‘It’s a longstanding policy of successive governments to not comment on intelligence matters but this once again underlines how serious the original data breach was and why the previous government have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen.’
