Cliff Notes
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Three Iranian men have been charged in the UK for allegedly aiding a foreign intelligence service, specifically Iran, over a period from August 2024 to February 2025.
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Mostafa Sepahvand faces additional charges for conducting surveillance and reconnaissance with intent to commit serious violence in the UK, while his accomplices are charged for supporting such conduct.
- The charges follow a two-week investigation by counter-terrorism police, with warnings about increased Iranian state aggression in the UK following multiple MI5 alerts since 2022.
Three Iranians charged under National Security Act after investigation by UK counter-terror police | UK News
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Three Iranian men have been charged with offences under the National Security Act in the UK, police have said.
The trio have been charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between 14 August 2024 and 16 February 2025, following an investigation by counter-terror police.
The Metropolitan Police said the three men are Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55.
The foreign state to which the charges relate is Iran, police said.
All three men will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Saturday, the force added.
Sepahvand, of St John’s Wood, London, has also been charged with “surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research” with the intention of “committing serious violence against a person in the UK”, according to a police statement.
Meanwhile, Manesh, of Kensal Rise, London, and Noori, of Ealing, London, have also been charged with “engaging in conduct, namely surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that acts, namely serious violence against a person in the UK, would be committed by others”.
Commander Dominic Murphy, from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, described the charges as “extremely serious”.
“Since the men were arrested two weeks ago, detectives have been working around the clock and we have worked closely with colleagues in the Crown Prosecution Service to reach this point,” he said.
“Now that these men have been charged, I would urge people not to speculate about this case, so that the criminal justice process can run its course.”
A fourth Iranian national aged 31 who was arrested was released with no further action on Thursday.
Last October, MI5 director general Ken McCallum said the UK intelligence agency had responded to 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots since 2022, warning of the risk of an “increase or broadening of Iranian state aggression in the UK”.