British police charge three Iranians as part of spying probe

Three Iranian men appeared in court in London on Saturday accused of offences under the National Security Act and plotting violence following a major counter-terrorism investigation by British police.

The three men have been charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between August 14, 2024, and February 16, 2025, police said, adding that the foreign state to which the charges relate is Iran.

The charges come at a time of intense scrutiny of suspected Iran-backed activities in Britain.

Interior minister Yvette Cooper said Britain would take "separate action" to address the serious issues raised by the case of the three men.

"Iran must be held to account for its actions," she said in a statement. "We must also strengthen our powers to protect our national security as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil."

The charges against the three men come after police arrested eight men including seven Iranians earlier in May, in two separate operations which Cooper said were some of the biggest investigations of their kind in recent years.

Police said in a separate statement later on Saturday that four other men arrested as part of the counter-terrorism operation had been released from custody but the investigation was still open.

"We made these arrests due to concerns about a suspected plot to target a specific premises," the statement said, adding that they continued to provide the premises with support.

"Our investigation remains active and is ongoing."

The eighth man was released without charge on Thursday.

SERIOUS VIOLENCE

Britain's domestic spy chief Ken McCallum said last year that officers had responded since 2022 to 20 Tehran-backed plots that potentially posed lethal threats to UK citizens and residents.

The three men charged - Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55 - were remanded in custody and will appear at a preliminary hearing at the central criminal court on June 6.

The court on Saturday heard allegations that the three men had targeted Britain-based journalists connected with Iran International, a broadcaster which is critical of the Iranian government.

Sepahvand was also charged with surveillance and intending to commit serious violence against a person in Britain, while Manesh and Noori were charged with surveillance and the intention that serious violent acts would be committed by others.

The men arrived by irregular means, the government said, including via small boats across the Channel between 2016 and 2022.

Immigration is a major political issue in Britain, where many voters are worried over the high numbers of arrivals. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised to reduce the number of small boat crossings by targeting people smuggling gangs.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has previously said he was "disturbed" to learn that Iranian citizens had been arrested by British authorities.

He said Tehran was ready to assist in investigations if "credible allegations of misconduct are established", while another foreign ministry official rejected any accusations against Iran as "baseless".

In 2023, an Austrian national was convicted of carrying out "hostile reconnaissance" against the London headquarters of Iran International. Last year a British journalist of Iranian origin who worked for Iran International was stabbed in London.

The British government has placed Iran on the highest tier of its foreign influence register, requiring Tehran to register everything it does to exert political influence in the UK.