Two Iranian men convicted in UK of spying on journalists

Two Iranian men have been found guilty in London of spying for Tehran, according to reporting by The Associated Press and other outlets.

Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court in south London convicted Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, of working on behalf of the Iranian state and assisting a foreign intelligence service. The verdicts were returned on Thursday, November 12, 2026.

A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted of all offenses against him.

The prosecution said the men carried out surveillance and reconnaissance between August 2024 and March 2025 on individuals considered to be of interest to the Iranian regime. Their targets included journalists working for the London-based Persian-language broadcaster Iran International, Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, as well as Jonathan Turner, a founder member of UK Lawyers for Israel. Iran International is banned by the government in Tehran.

Prosecutors said the defendants visited addresses linked to their targets, took photographs and videos, and carried out online research using internet tools including ChatGPT. The court heard there was no dispute that surveillance activity had taken place. The prosecution case centred on the allegation that the defendants were acting in a way that was likely to assist Iran's intelligence services.

"This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime," said Frank Ferguson, chief prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service's special crime and counter-terrorism division.

He said the pair were promised rewards to send intelligence back to Iran, while Sepahvand was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence against their targets. Prosecutors alleged Sepahvand intended to carry out a "violent attack" against at least one of the individuals being monitored, while Manesh assisted in planning the operation. Ferguson added: "Thankfully, the defendants were stopped before any attack could take place."

Sepahvand, of St John's Wood, north-west London, and Manesh, of Brent, denied the charges. Noori, of Ealing, was cleared by the jury of the same offence.

The convictions were secured under Britain's National Security Act, legislation introduced in 2023 to strengthen the country's ability to investigate and prosecute activities carried out on behalf of foreign intelligence services. Sepahvand was convicted of two offences under the Act, while Manesh was found guilty of one offence.

British police have described the case as evidence of increasing Iranian activity in the country. The investigation comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions between Britain and Iran, with concerns extending beyond the targeting of journalists to the security of military installations and other potential targets. In October, British police announced further arrests in a separate investigation involving suspected Iranian intelligence links and activity around RAF Fairford, a military airbase used by US forces. That investigation remains distinct from the journalist surveillance case.

The pair now face sentencing at a later date.

Sources

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