Two Iranian nationals have been convicted in the UK of spying on journalists and critics of the Iranian government, marking the first convictions under the country’s National Security Act of 2023.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were found guilty on Thursday at Woolwich Crown Court in London of engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service. Sepahvand was additionally convicted of preparatory conduct with intent to commit serious violence against a person in Britain.
The surveillance operation, which prosecutors said took place between August 2024 and March 2025, involved tracking targets associated with Iran International, a London-based Persian-language news outlet critical of Tehran, and a figure linked to UK Lawyers for Israel. Activities included visits to target locations, photography, video recording, and online research.
Sepahvand, a former gym owner and bodybuilder with a criminal record, was hired as a hitman by Iranian intelligence officers and offered £150,000 for the attack. He received only £5,000 before his arrest on May 3, 2024. Manesh, who arrived in the UK by small boat in 2022 and claimed asylum, was convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service.
A third defendant was acquitted of all charges. Both men had entered the UK irregularly—Sepahvand in 2016 via the back of a lorry and Manesh via small boat in 2022. They were assisted by a third Iranian, Shapoor Noori, 57, from Ealing, who remains at large.
British authorities described the case as evidence of an ongoing threat from Iranian intelligence operations abroad. Iran has denied involvement in the plot.
The convictions follow a series of similar incidents in recent years, including the recruitment of criminals from Chechnya and Romania to target UK-based critics of the Iranian regime. In one prior case, a group stabbed a journalist in Wimbledon, southwest London. Iranian operatives have also been linked to arson attacks on Jewish targets in April and a security scare at RAF Fairford in September.
The trial exposed what prosecutors described as a haphazard operation, with Iranian agents offering money and inducements to proxies who never successfully located their intended targets. Sepahvand’s communications revealed frustration over unmet financial promises from his handlers in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
UK counterterrorism officials emphasized the case as a warning about the expanding reach of Iranian intelligence networks in Europe. The verdicts underscore concerns raised by European allies, including France, which has accused the IRGC of unprecedented cyberattacks, and the UAE, which has warned of Iranian sleeper cells abroad.
The trial also highlighted the use of asylum seekers and irregular migrants as potential recruitment tools by foreign intelligence services operating in the UK.
British authorities have not disclosed the identities of the intended targets in the surveillance operation, citing ongoing security concerns.