Iran “almost certainly” conducting espionage against UK universities

Alongside China and Russia it is frequently Iran that pops up on the “what have universities done now” section of the centre-right leaning newspapers.

It’s not entirely unjustified. In light of reports in the Telegraph that Iran is organising funded influencing campaigns aimed at Western students it is less than ideal that UK universities collaborated with an Iranian university on research related to drone technology.

While there is no suggestion that the research has broken any laws or contravened the sanctions regime it’s obvious an enormous political problem for universities to collaborate, or be seen to collaborate, with organisations that have ties to a regime that are in the middle of global conflict with a nuclear regime the Prime Minister believes is a “grave risk.”

Universities in Australia, Norway, and Sweden have been accused of naivety in their dealings with Iran. A new report by the Intelligence and Security Committee stops short of making the same accusations but there is plenty to be worried about.

While it has only just been released this report was finished by the July 2024 election. Regardless, the lessons for UK universities seem to not only be prescient but to be permanent.

The committee has spoken to a range of witnesses and absorbed a ton of evidence to look at “key elements of the Iranian threat to the UK and UK interests, including assassination and kidnap, the nuclear programme and espionage, and then examines how the Intelligence Community are responding to these challenges.”

It should give the whole sector pause for thought that the report states that “Iran almost certainly conducts espionage campaigns targeting academia and the research sector around the world, including academics, think tanks and policy experts.” The report cites a 2020 cyber attack sponsored by Iran but it should be noted that the National Cyber Security Centre issued guidance to universities in 2019 that warned of the ongoing threats of state-sponsored cyber attack from Iran.

The motivations for their proxies are not always clear but seem to be about stealing intellectual property and using the “poorly defended networks” as platforms for further espionage. Universities are both targets and vehicles through which other institutions may be targeted.

There is greater clarity on some forms of espionage. As the report notes there is a strategic intent to bolster its carried out through “attempts to acquire material and knowledge from UK industry and academia to support the development of its military and other dual-use capabilities, including those relevant to the nuclear programme.” There are a list of examples where security services have provided a bit of advice and a quiet word, and where the government has used its legal powers to block activities.

Perhaps an equally large challenge is that Iran frequently works with other countries to bolster its military capabilities. The report highlights that Iran is a frequent collaborator with China on its defence industries. Given the enormous collaborations between the UK and China there is clearly a broader question of how research which is carried out with one country may be passed on to another and the national security implications of doing so.

One of the critical elements of the report is that knowledge of Iran, across key government departments, is patchy. In universities the real threat isn’t that lots of academics are willing participants in espionage, selling secrets, and cyber-warfare. It is that universities are unwitting parts of an enormous and complex global conflict where their knowledge assets can be stolen, co-opted, or transmuted from legitimate means to illegitimate ones, through the actions of a hostile state.

It may be the view of the Chancellor of Oxford and former Foreign Secretary William Hague that universities do not need a foreign policy. It would be at least prudent for them to be clear on the areas where they will under no circumstances work with some countries.