Three Iranian men charged under National Security Act
Three alleged Iranian spies charged with targeting UK-based journalists
(31 minutes later)
The investigation is being led by officers from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command
The investigation is being led by officers from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command
Three Iranian men have been charged under the UK's National Security Act on suspicion of conduct likely to assist Iran.
Three alleged Iranian spies have appeared in court charged with targeting UK-based journalists so that "serious violence" could be inflicted on them.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55 were arrested on 3 May.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, all from London, appeared in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court.
The charges against them relate to a period between 14 August 2024 and 16 February 2025, police said. All three men have been remanded in custody and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday.
They are accused of targeting individual journalists working for Iran International, an independent media organisation based in London.
Cdr Dominic Murphy, from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, says the "extremely serious" charges come following "a very complex and fast-moving investigation".
The three defendants were granted temporary leave to remain in the UK after claiming asylum. They arrived in the UK, including by small boats, between 2016 and 2022. Mr Sepahvand arrived in 2016 concealed in a lorry.
The trio have all been charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, which police say is Iran.
They are charged with committing offences under the National Security Act between 2024 and this year. The three men were arrested two weeks ago.
"Iran must be held to account for its actions," Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement following Saturday's charges.
The trio are charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, namely that of Iran, in carrying out UK-related activities and knew or ought to have reasonably known their conduct was likely to assist a foreign intelligence service.
She added: "We must also strengthen our powers to protect our national security as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil."
Mr Sepahvand is also charged with engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research with the intention of committing serious violence against a person in the UK.
Mr Sepahvand, of St John's Wood, London has also been charged with carrying out surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research, police said, intending to commit serious violence against someone in the UK.
Mr Manesh and Mr Noori are also charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance with the intention that serious violence against a person in the UK would be committed by others.
Meanwhile Mr Manesh, of Kensal Rise, London and Mr Noori, of Ealing, London have also been charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that serious violence against someone in the UK would be carried out by others.
It is alleged they carried out surveillance with a view to locating journalists associated with Iran International.
A fourth man, 31, was arrested on 9 May as part of the investigation but was released without charge on Thursday.
Iran International produces coverage that is critical of the current regime in Iran and has been proscribed in Iran as a terrorist organisation.
They were arrested under Section 27 of the National Security Act, the Met said, which grants police the power to arrest someone without a warrant if they are reasonably suspected of being involved in "foreign power threat activity".
The three defendants appeared in the dock wearing grey tracksuits flanked by eight guards. Mr Sepahvand was in a wheelchair.
Cdr Murphy said detectives had been "working around the clock" since the men were arrested, and added that officers had been "in contact with the individuals directly affected".
No pleas were indicated by the men. District Judge Annabel Pilling remanded them in custody to appear the Old Bailey on 6 June.
Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said: "It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings."
The arrest of the three men on 3 May came on the same day that five other Iranian men were detained by police as part of a separate counter-terrorism investigation.
The men - two of whom are aged 29, a 40-year-old, a 24-year-old and another aged 46 - were arrested in Swindon, west London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester.
One of the men was later released on bail until an unspecified date in May, while police obtained further detention orders for the others until Saturday.
Cdr Murphy previously stressed that police were not linking the two investigations.
