A CNN investigation published today reveals that the terror group HAYI, operating under Iranian sponsorship, is recruiting local “guns for hire” through the Telegram app to conduct surveillance and arson attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets. The findings point to a direct link between Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Iraqi militias using petty criminals as “cannon fodder”—a method that has already reached Israel with dozens of exposed cases of local espionage attempts sponsored by Iran.
The walls of the medical room at the Canons synagogue in northwest London are still charred, and the door nearly melted completely in the heat of the flames. Ten days after a Molotov cocktail was thrown through the window in the middle of the night, the smell of smoke still hangs sharp in the air. This synagogue is just one link in a chain of at least 17 terror incidents carried out in recent months across Europe.
Rabbi Yehuda Black, the spiritual leader of the community, described the difficult feelings: “It’s just the medical room, we can renovate and redesign. But what could have happened—that’s what’s really hard. This is pure antisemitism, it has to stop.”
The CNN investigation found clear connections between a group calling itself HAYI—the “Islamic Rightist Movement”—and Shiite militias backed by Iran. The operators use fake identities on Telegram to recruit people to conduct surveillance and violence. CNN journalists posing as job seekers found channels advertising themselves as Iranian intelligence offering high pay for operations against “Israeli interests.”
In Israel, this method has already exacted a heavy toll. More than 60 Israelis have been charged with espionage for Iran after being recruited in a similar manner. In one case, a reservist soldier was asked to assassinate his commander for $33,000.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, Vicky Evans, described the severity of the situation: “We are examining whether this tactic is being applied in London—recruiting ‘violence as a service.’ The people carrying out these crimes often have no loyalty to the cause whatsoever, and are taking quick cash for their crime.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer added a sharp warning directed straight at Tehran: “Our message to Iran or any other state seeking to stoke violence and hatred in society is that it will not be tolerated.”
In the past three months there has been an unusual spike in attacks against Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses in London, Antwerp and Liège. The group called HAYI appeared online only in March and has already claimed responsibility for a series of amateur but dangerous arson attacks.
In March a car in the Jewish quarter of Antwerp was torched, when a 17-year-old boy who was promised money to carry out the act was arrested. In April the Canons synagogue in London was set ablaze. There too a 17-year-old boy admitted to the act and claimed he “didn’t know it was a synagogue.” In May the espionage networks in Israel were exposed, linking Iranian Telegram channels to murder offers and intelligence gathering on IDF bases.
Iran has adopted a model of “hybrid warfare” based on disposable mercenaries. Instead of sending trained agents, Iranian intelligence uses local criminals or at-risk youth to do the “dirty work.”
This model gives Iran “plausible deniability”—it can carry out terror attacks in the heart of Europe without leaving direct traces to the Revolutionary Guards. The implication is that Jewish communities in Europe now face a dual threat: homegrown antisemitism and state-sponsored terror operated remotely through messaging apps.