2 Iranian men convicted in UK spying case tied to Iran International
What's new: Prosecutors said one defendant also plotted violence for up to £150,000, in the first such convictions under Britain's 2023 security law.
A London jury convicted two Iranian men of spying on dissident journalists in Britain on behalf of Iranian intelligence, in a case police cast as part of a rising state-backed threat. Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were found guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service after surveilling people linked to Iran International between August 2024 and March 2025. Sepahvand was also convicted of preparing a violent attack on at least one target; Manesh was cleared on that charge. A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted. Police said the verdicts were the first convictions of Iranian nationals under Britain's National Security Act 2023.