Iran used drug traffickers to stoke trouble in France, says minister
PARIS, June 22 (Reuters) - France has evidence that Iran has used intermediaries in the past to hire drug traffickers to carry out activities in France on its behalf and could do so again, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Sunday.
France is on heightened alert following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities overnight.
"Iran uses proxies that are often linked to drug traffickers. They get a contract and don't even know that the contract is linked to the Iranian regime," Retailleau told LCI television. "But that's the modality used by Iran on (our)national territory."
Retailleau did not say what activities had been carried out in France and gave no specific evidence.
Iran's embassy was not immediately available for comment.
"It's very simple. These are contracts through intermediaries that don't link back to the regime," Retailleau said.
Highlighting the heightened security threat, Retailleau also referred to a foiled plot in July 2018 to blow up an opposition rally near Paris where several Iranians were arrested after a joint Franco-German-Belgian operation.
The plot was led by Vienna-based Iranian diplomat Assadolah Assadi and three others, according to court documents.
Assadi, who French officials said was running an Iranian state intelligence network and was acting on orders from Tehran, was sentenced in Belgium to a 20-year prison term in 2021. He was exchanged in May 2023 for four Europeans held in Iran.
Iran has repeatedly denied carrying out destabilising activities in Europe.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Reform unveils plan to top up poorest workers from £250,000 fee on rich UK newcomers
Reform UK are to offer wealthy foreigners and returning British expats a bespoke tax regime in exchange for a one-off payment of £250,000 with all funds collected redistributed, the party claims, to Britain's lowest-paid workers. The proposal, dubbed the Britannia Card, is due to be unveiled by party leader Nigel Farage later this week. It promises a 10-year residence permit and a return to the controversial 'remittance basis' of taxation, allowing cardholders to shield overseas income from UK tax and avoid inheritance tax entirely. In return, high-net-worth applicants would pay an upfront 'entry contribution' of £250,000, which Reform UK said will be distributed in full to the bottom 10% of UK earners. Reform estimates this 'Britannia workers' dividend' could provide a tax-free annual payout of £600-£1,000 to roughly 2.5 million low-paid full-time workers, depending on uptake. The money would be delivered directly by HMRC at the end of each tax year. Under the plan, foreign nationals and wealthy British returnees would gain access to the UK through a tax-light regime that exempts all overseas income and assets from UK taxation for a decade. Inheritance tax is also scrapped entirely. In effect, Reform is proposing to sell exemption from the UK tax system – reinstating the abolished non-dom privileges in a simplified form but with a cash price attached. The party insists the fee is not a 'golden visa' but a way of ensuring wealthy newcomers 'immediately contribute to British society'. Unlike Labour's 2024 abolition of non-dom status, the main change the former Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt pointed to in his last budget, which placed all new arrivals onto a residence-based tax system, Reform's approach would reintroduce tax advantages for the globally mobile – while simultaneously claiming to deliver for the British working class. Critics are likely to seize on what amounts to a structural loophole: the ability for millionaires to buy their way out of full UK tax liability, while ordinary residents remain subject to standard tax rules. Reform claims the policy will channel billions directly into the bank accounts of Britain's poorest workers. Under its lowest-uptake scenario (6,000 Britannia Cards issued a year), the scheme would generate £1.5bn – enough to fund a £600 tax-free bonus to 2.5 million workers. A high-uptake scenario (10,000 cards) would raise £2.5bn, delivering £1,000 per worker. Only full-time workers in the bottom 10% of the income distribution would qualify, with payments issued automatically via HMRC. Reform said the boost would disproportionately benefit workers in Wales, Scotland and the north-east of England – regions where a greater share of jobs sit in the bottom pay decile. The party has yet to publish a clear threshold for who qualifies as a 'high-net-worth newcomer' nor how the policy would be enforced or integrated into HMRC's current tax framework. No legislative draft has been released. Since sweeping to power in more than 670 council seats in May and taking control of 10 councils and two mayoralties, Reform has emerged as a serious national contender. The party now leads in multiple polls: a recent Sky/YouGov tracker shows Reform on 34%, with Labour trailing at 25% and the Conservatives at just 15%. The move is part of Farage's latest attempt to position Reform as the party of working people, not through traditional wage policies or trade unionism, but via direct wealth transfers and blunt fiscal symbolism. The Britannia Card is his clearest move yet to dominate the 'red wall' on economic terms. However the policy is likely to raise questions over who would be eligible with no confirmed income or asset threshold for applicants. It is also unclear whether HMRC could legally define and enforce the £250,000 fee. There are also concerns over it creating a two-tier tax system with British workers still paying full tax on global income while wealthy newcomers will not, and that it consists of a one-off fee and is not a recurring tax yet grants up to 10 years of preferential status. A Reform spokesperson said: 'We are serious about repairing the social contract. It's time workers feel the benefit of high-net-worth individuals entering the country. 'We are taking policy formulation very serious internally, as can be seen by today's announcement.' Responding to the trail of Reform's non-dom policy, a Labour spokesperson said: 'Nigel Farage can brand this whatever he wants - the reality is his first proper policy is a golden ticket for foreign billionaires to avoid the tax they owe in this country. 'As ever with Reform, the devil is in the detail. This giveaway would reduce revenues raised from the rich that would have to be made up elsewhere - through tax hikes on working families or through Farage's promise to charge them to use the NHS.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Farage: ‘I will charge non-doms £250k and give it to the poor'
Nigel Farage will vow to reinstate non-dom status for wealthy entrepreneurs if they pay a £250,000 fee which will be handed to Britain's poorest workers. On Monday, the Reform UK leader will use a press conference to unveil plans to impose a Robin Hood-style levy on new or returning 'high net worth' individuals. The revenue generated would then be redistributed to pay cash bonuses of £600 a year to low-paid workers. Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Farage said the policy would encourage the return of wealthy and talented entrepreneurs to the UK while also providing benefits to British workers. The policy will be seen as a further attempt to win over Labour voters after Reform's commitment last month to restore the winter fuel payment to all pensioners and scrap the two-child benefit cap. It also creates a clear dividing line with the Tories and Labour on wealth generation after both parties ordered crackdowns on non-doms. 'Success must be celebrated' The announcement comes a day after a poll showed that Reform was on course to win an outright majority at the next general election. Mr Farage said: 'Our policy is simple – Britain must be a place where success is celebrated, not punished with excessive taxes, crippling energy costs, or punitive inheritance levies. 'We will actively encourage the return of wealth and talent to the United Kingdom, on the clear condition that those who come here deliver immediate, visible benefits to our workers.' Rachel Reeves scrapped non-dom status in April, ending wealthy individuals' right to avoid full UK tax on their overseas earnings. The Chancellor also made worldwide assets of all UK residents subject to inheritance tax at 40 per cent. The moves have been blamed for driving some of Britain's richest people abroad. Those affected by the scrapping of the status include people such as the South African national Richard Gnodde, Goldman Sachs's best-paid banker outside the US, Nassef Sawiris, the Aston Villa FC co-owner, and the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. Mr Farage wrote: 'Over the last 10 years, UK policy toward non-domiciled taxpayers has lurched from piecemeal tightening under successive Conservative chancellors to outright abolition under the current Labour Government. 'The result? A record-breaking and alarming exodus of high-spending, high-tax-paying residents, leaving an estimated £7 billion yearly hole in public finances and inflicting huge collateral damage on London's position as Europe's financial centre.' Mr Farage claimed Reform's approach would be 'different, transparent, and designed to directly benefit the hard-working backbone of this nation'. 'Every high net worth newcomer [or returning leaver] will pay a £250,000 one-off entry contribution in return for a stable, indefinite remittance-style regime on offshore income and a 20-year inheritance-tax shield,' he added. The new non-doms would have to renew their status with a £250,000 payment every subsequent decade, which would renew their 20-year inheritance tax exemption. They would have to pay UK taxes on their UK earnings including income tax, NI, VAT and stamp duty. Anyone who had remained in the UK and wanted to renew their non-dom status would also be eligible under the plans, to be set out in a 12-page document on Monday. 'Crucially, 100 per cent of this contribution is hypothecated to Britain's lowest-paid full-time workers, delivered automatically by HMRC as a tax-free cash dividend,' said Mr Farage. 'This means roughly 2.5 million hard-working Britons – the grafters who keep this country running – will receive an annual cash bonus, sent directly to their bank accounts at the end of the financial year. 'Thanks to this policy, in a low-uptake scenario with 6,000 cards issued annually, we'll generate a £1.5 billion fund, resulting in a tax-free annual dividend of £600 per worker. In a high-uptake scenario with 10,000 cards, this could deliver a £2.5-billion fund, providing £1,000 per worker. 'This isn't just a number. It's money in the pockets of those who need it most, from cleaners to nurses to small business owners.' By Nigel Farage It should come as no surprise that, over the past few decades, many of the UK's most successful and influential business minds have left the country in droves – a clear and troubling sign of national decline. Over the past 10 years, UK policy toward non-domiciled taxpayers ('non-doms') has lurched from piecemeal tightening under successive Conservative chancellors to outright abolition under the current Labour Government. The result? A record-breaking and alarming exodus of high-spending, high-tax-paying residents, leaving an estimated £7 billion yearly hole in public finances and inflicting huge collateral damage on London's position as Europe's financial centre. The social contract between the rich and the poor is at an all-time low. Public trust in the tax system has been eroded by perceptions that elites play by a different set of rules. In the past, your average Briton saw little to no benefit from the wealthy in their midst. If anything, it created greater division and hostility. Reform UK is determined to change this. We are the party of working people – the party of those with alarm clocks who get up in the morning and work hard, whether they're at the higher end of the financial scale or the lower end. Our approach is different, transparent, and designed to directly benefit the hard-working backbone of this nation. Unlike the opaque financial mechanisms of the past, where wealth seemed to vanish into hidden pots of money that ordinary people could not see, Reform UK is committed to doing things differently. We will rebuild the social contract by ensuring that every wealthy individual who wishes to move here makes a tangible contribution to Britain's lowest earners. Our policy is simple: Britain must be a place where success is celebrated, not punished with excessive taxes, crippling energy costs, or punitive inheritance levies. We will actively encourage the return of wealth and talent to the United Kingdom – on the clear condition that those who come here deliver immediate, visible benefits to our workers. Here's how it works: every high-net-worth newcomer (or returning leaver) will pay a £250,000 one-off entry contribution in return for a stable, indefinite remittance-style regime on offshore income and a 20-year inheritance-tax shield. Crucially, 100 per cent of this contribution is hypothecated to Britain's lowest-paid full-time workers, delivered automatically by HMRC as a tax-free cash dividend. This means roughly 2.5 million hard-working Britons – the grafters who keep this country running – will receive an annual cash bonus, sent directly to their bank accounts at the end of the financial year. Thanks to this policy, in a low-uptake scenario with 6,000 cards issued annually, we'll generate a £1.5 billion fund, resulting in a tax-free annual dividend of £600 per worker. In a high-uptake scenario with 10,000 cards, this could deliver a £2.5 billion fund, providing £1,000 per worker. This isn't just a number. It's money in the pockets of those who need it most, from cleaners to nurses to small-business owners. Our policy is not a 'golden visa' or a backdoor to citizenship. It is a one-time flat tax paid by newcomers in exchange for the certainty of a favourable tax status. Individuals will still be liable for all standard UK taxes on UK-sourced income, property, and spending. But they won't be taxed on offshore income and gains for the duration of their agreed status. Pay your quarter million pounds upfront, and enjoy UK residency without worldwide taxation hassles. After all, this is still the best country in the world, and many of the world's wealthy want to move here but are deterred by the economic downsides. Unlike the old, indefinite non-dom arrangement under the Tories, which lacked transparency and failed to benefit ordinary people, our solution is immediate, visible, and mutually beneficial for both newcomers and the hard-working British worker struggling to make ends meet. Unlike Labour's punitive approach, which drives wealth away, we incentivise the rich to return to Britain. Over the past decade, the number of non-dom taxpayers has plummeted from over 120,000 to fewer than 80,000. The failed approaches of both Labour and the Conservatives have cost this country billions annually. Reform UK's plan will reverse this trend, capturing revenue from global wealth, channelling funds to support the working class, and restoring London as a global powerhouse for business, finance, and investment. The driving ambition of Reform UK is to put the lives of everyday British citizens first – and this policy does exactly that. We are the party of working people, and we are building a Britain where wealth and opportunity are shared, not hoarded. By ensuring that every pound contributed by the wealthy goes directly to those who get up early and work hard, we are creating a fairer, stronger, and more prosperous nation for all.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Did Trump's strike pay off? New images show Iran's nuclear ambitions in ruins
US strikes on Iran may have set the country's nuclear programme back by several years, according to preliminary expert analysis. Donald Trump's claims that Iran's nuclear sites had been 'completely and totally obliterated' were likely to be an overstatement, serving and former US military officials said – but it is probable that all three facilities targeted suffered extensive damage. Under best-case assessments, Iran's capacity to enrich uranium has been severely degraded, if not destroyed. However, the country's existing stockpiles of uranium enriched to near weapons grade – enough to fuel 10 nuclear bombs – is thought to have survived. Understanding the extent to which the US has damaged Iran's nuclear programme is a vital in determining whether the strikes were a one-off or merely the opening salvo of a wider conflict US B-2 stealth bombers and cruise missiles struck Iran's three most important nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. If the strikes succeeded in destroying centrifuge halls at the facilities, they would prevent Iran from further enriching its uranium stockpiles to a purity of 90 per cent – something it has not done so far, according to UN inspectors. Satellite images of convoys leaving all three sites in recent days support Iran's claims that it moved its 400-kg stockpile – much of it previously held at Isfahan – to a secret underground location shortly before the strikes. Even if that were the case, however, the damage inflicted elsewhere would still make it difficult to turn the uranium into a bomb. Even if Iran had retained its fissile material, it would be 'like having fuel without a car,' said Ronen Solomon, an Israeli intelligence analyst. 'They have the uranium – but they can't do a lot with it, unless they have built something we don't know about on a small scale.' That is not beyond the realm of possibility. Iran succeeded in keeping its Fordow facility a secret for seven years before it was dramatically exposed, by Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy – then the leaders of the US, UK and France – at a joint press conference in 2009, following a joint intelligence operation. Fordow Of the three sites attacked, Fordow was by far the most important. The last-known site developed by the Iranians was deliberately designed to withstand aerial attack. An 'engineering marvel', in the words of one Western official, its main centrifuge halls lie buried up to half a mile inside a mountain. Not only does a layer of solid rock act as a natural shield impervious to most bombs, but additional artificial layers of reinforcement are also believed to have been added. The GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting bomb – 12 of which the US dropped on Fordow – is capable of penetrating 60 metres of standard concrete before exploding. But Iran is believed to have reinforced the centrifuge halls at Fordow with ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), which can withstand six times the amount of pressure of normal concrete – up to 30,000-lb per square inch. If Iran used the best quality UHPC, Fordow would have been significantly harder to destroy. Given that the site is underground, it remains difficult to assess the scale of the damage yet, with both Iranian and US officials saying they are still conducting evaluations. Natanz Above-ground facilities at Natanz, Iran's largest enrichment site, had already been damaged by extensive Israeli strikes, as shown by satellite imagery. The destruction of the site's electric substation may have knocked out power, potentially damaging centrifuges by causing them to spin out of control, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog. Natanz also housed an underground centrifuge hall thought to have been the target of two US bunker-busters. The site was additionally struck by cruise missiles fired by a US submarine in the Arabian Sea. Isfahan Much of Iran's mostly highly enriched uranium is thought to have been stored at the nuclear research and production centre near the city of Isfahan, the ancient capital of Safavid Persia. International inspectors verified the fuel was there a fortnight ago, but satellite imagery suggests Iran may have moved it in recent days. Israel had previously struck laboratories and three other buildings at the facility. The US did not use bunker-busters on Isfahan – which is thought to be mostly above ground – and instead attacked with cruise missiles. The strikes are thought to have damaged six additional buildings, including a fuel rod production facility. Overall assessment A fuller picture of overall damage may emerge in the coming days, with experts urging caution about attaching too much credibility to the US president's more optimistic pronouncements or to Iran's defiant claims that its nuclear capacity remains largely intact. Clionadh Raleigh, head of the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a conflict-monitoring group, warned that although the strikes might alter the timeline of Iran's nuclear programme, they would do little to alter its ultimate trajectory. 'The regime's broader power and intentions are likely to remain intact,' said Ms Raleigh. 'Iran's military and intelligence systems are designed and built to survive. The structure is deeply layered and resistant to collapse. Even if key infrastructure is destroyed, the system adapts – and in some cases, becomes more dangerous in the process. 'There's no evidence that the strikes will permanently end Iran's pursuit of nuclear capabilities. What they may do is shift the timeline.' Others were less cautious. Mick Mulroy, a former Pentagon official who served in the first Trump administration, told the New York Times that the US strikes will 'likely set back the Iranian nuclear programme two to five years' – an assessment shared by Jason Brodsky of United Against a Nuclear Iran, a US-based pressure group. The setback stems not only from the strikes themselves. Repairing the damage will be far harder following the assassination of more than a dozen nuclear scientists in the past 10 days, Israeli officials said. 'Several of the eliminated scientists had spent decades advancing nuclear weapons, constituting a significant part of the Iranian regime's plans to annihilate the State of Israel,' one official said. 'These scientists had diverse professional expertise and extensive experience.'
