The UK’s designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps took effect on July 17, creating a new criminal exposure for UK-linked people and businesses that receive or retain value supplied by or on behalf of the group.

Under the designation instrument, the IRGC became one of the first three bodies added to Schedule 6A of the National Security Act 2023.

The new section 17C offense can carry as much as 14 years in prison when a person obtains, accepts or retains a qualifying material benefit and knows, or in light of other matters known to them ought reasonably to know, that it came from the designated body.

The rules still leave some room for judgment. An Iran-linked payment is not automatically a crime, and a Schedule 6A designation…