A UK court has convicted two Iranian men of spying on journalists working for an international broadcaster banned by Iran, finding that they gathered intelligence for Tehran and targeted critics of the Islamic Republic living in the UK.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were convicted on Nov. 12 at Woolwich Crown Court of assisting a foreign intelligence service, contrary to the UK’s National Security Act 2023.
Sepahvand was also found guilty of preparatory conduct under the same legislation.
A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted of all charges.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the men had carried out surveillance on the journalists, as well as a lawyer, and gathered information that prosecutors said was intended for Iranian intelligence handlers.
“This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime,” said Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division.
He said Sepahvand and Manesh had been promised financial rewards in exchange for passing intelligence to contacts in Iran.
“Sepahvand himself was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence against their targets,” Ferguson said.
He said that the case demonstrated “Iranian intelligence’s willingness to use proxies to target the regime’s critics abroad.”
Sepahvand argued that he had acted under duress because he feared the consequences of refusing instructions.
Prosecutors had to prove that Sepahvand intentionally gathered information knowing that it could help a foreign intelligence service, or that he should have known that.
They said investigators found videos, photographs, and messages showing that Sepahvand had monitored the homes and workplaces of journalists linked to Iran International, a Persian-language television channel.
The CPS said Sepahvand was the main contact with handlers in Iran, while Manesh passed him information, photographs and videos.
Mobile phone data placed Manesh in London in late 2024 while carrying out surveillance on another target, prosecutors said.
Investigators also found evidence that Sepahvand had searched for a target who had moved to a west London hotel because of security concerns.
The CPS said Sepahvand later asked a contact in Iran for 150,000 pounds to “finish [the target] off” after finding the target.
Wider Security Concerns
The convictions come as British authorities have publicly accused Iran of directing hostile activity inside the UK.
In October, two men were charged following an incident at RAF Fairford in southwest England.
One faced a charge of conduct likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service, while the second was charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK.
Armed police officers attend a suspected terrorist incident at RAF Fairford airbase in Fairford, England, on Sept. 27, 2026. (Toby Shepheard/Reuters)
In Parliament on Oct. 12, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that activity surrounding the base was highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran and “almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.”
Following the incident, the Pentagon removed its B-1 bomber aircraft from the base.
Speaking in October, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said Iran-linked investigations had intensified over the previous year, as more than 50 arrests were made in the UK during that period.
“The other major shift this year has been Iranian ambitions to come at harder targets, like military sites,” McCallum added.
Iran has repeatedly denied involvement in espionage or hostile activity in the UK.
Following the arrests of Sepahvand and others in May 2025, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was “disturbed” by the detentions.
Sepahvand and Javadi Manesh are due to be sentenced at London’s Central Criminal Court on Dec. 17.
Reuters contributed to this report.
