Two Iranian men have been found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of spying on dissident journalists and a lawyer in Britain in conduct likely to assist Iran's intelligence service. Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, carried out surveillance and reconnaissance between August 2024 and March 2025 in a bid to inflict violence on targets in the UK, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, was convicted of assisting that activity. The targets included journalists for the London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International, Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, as well as Jonathan Turner, a founder member of UK Lawyers for Israel.

Prosecutors said the defendants visited addresses linked to their targets, took photos and videos, and used platforms such as ChatGPT to research them online. Sepahvand was also convicted of a second charge relating to a plan to attack one or more of the targets, with the prosecution saying he was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence. Manesh was acquitted of that second charge. A third man, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was cleared of both charges after jurors deliberated for 19 hours and nine minutes.S1S2

Police said the convictions were the first of Iranian nationals under the National Security Act, introduced in 2023 to counter threats from foreign states, including Iran, which the authorities say have risen sharply. Counter Terrorism Policing's Vicki Evans said Sepahvand had been directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps or 'middlemen' for Iranian intelligence, and that the case highlighted the continuing and increasing threat to the UK from Iran. Iran has repeatedly denied involvement in spying, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was 'disturbed' by the arrests of Sepahvand and others in May 2025.S2S1

Both Sepahvand and Manesh will be sentenced next month. Frank Ferguson, chief Crown prosecutor of the CPS's Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said the defendants were promised rewards to send intelligence back to contacts in Iran and were stopped before any attack could take place.S1S2